The coaches of Juventus and Cagliari received red cards after a heated argument, the roots of which date back to last season
Luciano Spalletti and Fabio Pisacane almost got into a physical fight after the 0-0 draw between Juventus and Cagliari. The two coaches got into a heated conflict at the end of the match, and the intervention of their staff members prevented a more serious escalation. In the end, both received red cards.
According to information from “La Gazzetta dello Sport” the tension escalated after Spalletti accused his opponent of Cagliari players deliberately slowing down the game. When Pisacane touched his hand, the Juventus coach reacted by asking: “What are you doing?“. His colleague replied with the same words, which provoked an even sharper reaction from Spalletti: “I'm going to slap you“.
A Pisacane assistant intervened before the situation got out of hand. However, the refereeing team did not ignore the behavior of the two coaches and sent them off with red cards.
According to the Italian publication, the reasons for the conflict date back to the second half of last season, when Cagliari defeated Juventus. Before the current match, Spalletti openly commented on this success: “Pizzacane and Giulini deserve everything they have achieved recently, but not last year's victory“.
After the match, the Juventus coach again praised Cagliari for their ability to buy time, emphasizing that he had not intended to make fun of them. However, his comments increased tensions between the two camps, which eventually erupted on the pitch.