Lecce Coach Roberto D'Aversa Dismissed After Headbutting Incident

After the events at the end of the Lecce - Verona match, U.S. Lecce announces that it has relieved coach Roberto D'Aversa of his duties. The club thanks the coach and his staff for their work. This is stated by the club on its website. A Sunday to forget that cost the Salento team's coach, Roberto D'Aversa, his job. The Lecce coach was negatively involved (by his own admission) in the fiery finale of the relegation battle with Verona: the ugly incident, involving a headbutt (even though the coach denies premeditation and speaks of a contact) to the Verona striker Henry, cost D'Aversa his job despite clarification and apologies at the end of the match: a significant suspension by the sports judge is also forthcoming (the referee Chiffi witnessed the incident and expelled the coach). The club has distanced itself with a note of disapproval, in which it "strongly condemns the gesture of its coach as contrary to the principles and values of sport". The apologies to everyone, with his recounting of the incident, were not enough to save the coach's position, who was booed and contested by the Salento fans tired of the technical direction of a team that seems to have entered a dangerous downward spiral. And the unjustified reaction at the final whistle of the match against Verona, culminating in the contact with Henry, was particularly disliked. D'Aversa tried to exonerate himself: "It was a hectic finale," he clarifies, "when in the last minutes of the game we witnessed provocations. It was not a nice gesture to see, absolutely not premeditated, but it was my intention to separate the players." Then the mea culpa via social media: "I apologize to everyone, for having been carried away by zeal and lost clarity. I came head to head with Henry," he explains, "but I did not hit the Verona player with a headbutt, nor did I receive one from him. It was a poor example, an unsporting image born of great tension and adrenaline, which, however, must not and do not want to be my excuses or mitigating factors." In the past, other coaches have been stained by similar actions: twenty years ago, the then coach of Cesena, Castori, participated in the brawl at the end with Lumezzane, Serie C. Castori was given three years of suspension, later reduced to two. Also famous is the kick to the buttocks that Silvio Baldini (on the Catania bench) gave to Di Carlo (Parma), or the assault in 2012 by Delio Rossi, then at the helm of Fiorentina, on one of his players Adem Ljajic that cost the coach three months of stop. In 2019 in C, the coach of Lucchese, Giancarlo Favarin, headbutted an opponent and was stopped until the end of the season. D'Aversa risks similar measures. The first name as a replacement could be that of Leonardo Semplici, with the Tuscan coach who has already collaborated with Corvino with the Fiorentina Primavera.