Fiorentina’s miserable season reached a new low this week as coach Delio Rossi was sacked for throwing a punch at one of his own players during his side’s 2-2 draw with Novara.
A victory would have guaranteed the Viola’s Serie A status for another season, but with his side trailing by two goals after just half an hour, Rossi decided that drastic changes were needed and replaced the previously ineffectual Adem Ljajic with Ruben Olivera.
Taking exception to this, Ljajic appeared to sarcastically applaud the coach’s decision, and an enraged Rossi responded by clambering into the dugout before launching several punches at the shocked Serbian midfielder.
Though the side ultimately recovered to rescue a point through Riccardo Montolivo’s second half brace, club president Andrea Della Valle revealed via a statement on the club’s website that he had been left with no option but to relieve Rossi of his duties.
He said: “In a few seconds months of stress came out. I am sorry because the coach has never committed acts of this kind. For his own good [and] to make him understand he has made a mistake I had to take this decision. No provocation justifies this reaction.
“Rossi has not justified it to me but he is someone who has never done anything like this. I am sorry also that in the 10th year of my reign and with what he has brought – we have won at Milan and Roma and I believed this evening we would have achieved safety, certainly not that I would have to take a decision like this.”
Quite what prompted such a response from Rossi has not yet been revealed, and rumours have since started to circulate that Ljajic directed some unpalatable insults in the coach’s direction as he left the field.
While not wishing to offer any justification for Rossi’s actions, it has been well documented that player discipline at the club has been a consistent problem throughout the season, with the likes of Juan Manuel Vargas, Alessio Cerci and Andrea Lazzari all picking up club imposed fines for breach of conduct at one point or another.
Perhaps months of frustration had ultimately pushed Rossi to the limits of his patience. However, as the figurehead of the side and the man responsible for setting an example to his squad as to how they should conduct themselves both on and off the field, his moment of madness was entirely unforgivable, and the second he allowed his frustration to get the better of him, he had to go.
It is a huge shame though, as although the team have been appalling at times during the course of this season, and have flirted with relegation for far too long, Rossi had previously gone about his business with dignity and a quiet determination since replacing Sinisa Mihajlovic in November.
He has since been suspended from all footballing activities for three months as a result of his behaviour, but whether or not he will be able to secure employment with another club in light of his actions remains to be seen.
Such an act of aggression would not have been altogether surprising had it been committed by a number of other, more recognisably volatile coaches plying their trade in the Italian leagues, but there has been widespread bemusement that a man of Rossi’s usually placid demeanour could snap in the way that he did.
Speaking with La Gazzetta Dello Sport, president of the Italian Professional Footballers’ Association Damiano Tommasi said: “I can understand the pressure of the moment, but there is no justification for losing it like that.
“This has nothing to do with the association, there’s little or nothing to justify that action, simple as that. It’s strange that this is coming from Delio Rossi, who is always very balanced in his comments.”
Nevertheless, Rossi has paid the price for failing to keep his emotions in check, and his Florentine renaissance has ended before it ever really had the chance to get going.
It has been left to team manager Vincenzo Guerini to take charge of the team for the remaining two fixtures and secure the solitary point needed to make safety a certainty.
Failure to beat Novara means that there is still an outside chance of the Viola making the drop into Serie B, as the side currently sit six points ahead of third bottom Lecce with two games remaining.
With head to head records used as a deciding factor should two teams finish the season level on points, and with Lecce having picked up a 1-0 win at the Artemio Franchi back in January, a defeat for Fiorentina in the return fixture this Saturday could make the final day of the season very uncomfortable indeed for the Viola.
Remember to vote in this year’s Italian Football Fancast Awards. You can do so RIGHT HERE.
Join Forza Italian Football on Twitter and Facebook.
