Lazio
's elimination
from the
Champions League
at the hands of
Bayern Munich
left the Italian team plunged into an internal crisis.
The Roman team, after losing to the German team, fell 2 to 1 against
Udinese
and that was the straw that broke the camel's back and ended with the resignation of
Maurizio Sarri
.
Criticism about the coach's departure placed the scorer,
Ciro Immobile
, at the center of the problem.
On Wednesday, he and his son were intercepted by a man who got out of his car to insult the captain.
On Thursday the same thing happened
to his wife Jessica
.
The attacks continued when this morning a group of
Lazio fans
verbally and physically
attacked
the player and his family at the door of his son's school.
"Ciro Immobile, his wife Jessica and their four-year-old son, Mattia, were verbally and physically attacked by a group of people in front of their son's school,"
the goalscorer's lawyers said in a statement
.
On Thursday the club's president,
Claudio Lotito , gave an interview for
RAI
television
in which he said that "Sarri felt
a little betrayed
by the behavior of some."
"
There is something strange within the group
: a team that beats Bayern Munich and loses against Udinese, and not only against Udinese," said the president about the present of his team that has not won for four games and is ninth in the
A series
.
Immobile was accused of Sarri's resignation.
Photo: AP.
Las Águilas
fans
took these statements as an accusation towards the former Genoa and did not hide their discontent.
After the incidents, the player asked his lawyers to take criminal action against
"those responsible for this defamation
. "
"All of this, unfortunately, comes after the
incitement to hatred
encouraged by a sector of
the press
and by
journalists through social networks
, spreading reasons to hate Ciro Immobile by reporting on facts that do not correspond to reality," says the statement
Immobile's lawyers said that "These statements
are seriously defamatory
and therefore damaging to his image, both professional and personal, and will be brought to the attention of the competent magistrate. Incitement to hatred, especially gratuitous one, is a crime that
must be punished
."
Immobile
arrived at the
Blanquicelestes
in 2016 and with the capital team he holds the record of being the
player with the most goals in a single Serie A season
.
Between 2019 and 2020 he scored 36 goals, which in addition to giving him that award at the local level, was also awarded the
Golden Boot
.
Immobile has the record for most goals in a single Serie A. Photo: REUTERS.
He won two
Italian Super Cups
and one
Italian Cup
.
He also played for big teams like
Juventus
,
Borussia Dortmund
and
Sevilla
.
In his career he has played
526 games
and scored
284 goals
.
However,
Lazio
's present is far from being perfect, in addition to being ninth in the league,
seven points behind European positions
, they have
won 12 games
,
lost 12 games
and four draws, in the Champions League they had beaten Bayer 1-0 Münich at home, but the second leg fell 3 to 0.
With the departure of
Sarri
, the technical director who would replace him would be
Giovanni Martusciello
, who served as second coach.
However, in the long term the team would be thinking about hiring the Croatian
Igor Tudor
with spells in
Hellas Verona
and
Udinese
.