FIFA president Sepp Blatter has criticised the 50,000 euro ($64,850) fine handed to AS Roma for racist behaviour by their fans, describing the sanction as too weak and unacceptable. Blatter said he would call the Italian football federation, who he said had not been thorough enough in investigating Sunday's incident in the match at AC Milan.
"What is surprising and is not understandable for me, is that the disciplinary committee of the Italian Football Federation has taken a decision, not even 24 hours after the event, by just imposing a fine," he told FIFA.com. They have not made any investigation of what happened. And just to give a pecuniary sanction is not valid, that is not acceptable. You will always find money. What is 50.000 Euros for such an incident? I'm not happy and I will call the Italian Federation. That's not a way to deal with such matters."
Blatter added: "I think lessons have not been learned. It is incredible, that we had such incidents especially in the Italian Serie A in the San Siro between AC Milan and Roma, a very important match.
"The referee had to stop the match for a few minutes in order to bring back calm. This is bad."...
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06:51 PM, May 14, 2013
AC Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri condemned Italian soccer culture as backward on Sunday after his team's match at home against AS Roma was interrupted by racist chanting from fans. Allegri also criticised the interruption, during which warnings were broadcast to the fans over the public address system, as an unsuccessful compromise and said that forward Mario Balotelli was being increasingly taunted by racist abuse. "People should go to the stadium...
01:12 PM, May 13, 2013
Rome: AC Milan have denied local media reports that manager Massimiliano Allegri will be moving to AS Roma at the end of the season. "AC Milan categorically denies what was published today in the pages of the Corriere della Sera regarding its manager Massimiliano Allegri," the club said on their website (www.acmilan.com) on Saturday. Milan-based daily Corriere della Sera said Allegri had accepted a three-year contract to move to the...
04:58 PM, May 04, 2013
Rome: Serie A administrators insist that the Fiorentina's home match against AS Roma May 4 should be rescheduled to avoid risks. The game at Stadio Artemio Franchi was originally meant to be played Saturday May 4 at 19:45 GMT, reports Xinhua. But Lega Calcio officials Wednesday released a statement insisting that the match timings be changed in view of past incidents of clashes between the fans of the two teams....
02:32 PM, Apr 25, 2013
Rome: Napoli tightened their hold on second place and a direct Champions League berth with a last-minute 3-2 win over visiting Cagliari on Sunday. Lorenzo Insigne, a 21-year-old forward born in Naples, scored the winner with a long, angled shot four minutes into added time at the San Paolo stadium. Victor Ibrabo had given Cagliari the lead in the 18th before Napoli struck back with an own goal from Davide...
09:28 PM, Apr 21, 2013
The 36-year-old Totti's contract runs out next year and he is keen to sort out a new deal. ...
03:19 PM, Mar 29, 2013
Tributes flowed for Totti after he converted a penalty against Genoa last Sunday to score his 225th goal to equal Gunnar Nordahl's total and became joint highest all-time scorer in Serie A history. ...
05:04 PM, Mar 07, 2013
Italian Serie A club AS Roma sacked manager Zdenek Zeman after a 4-2 loss at home to Cagliari. ...
09:18 PM, Feb 02, 2013
Rome: An early onslaught of goals gave Juventus a comfortable 4-1 win over Roma and old nemesis Zdenek Zeman on Saturday, extending the Turin club's unbeaten streak in Serie A to 45 matches. Midfield maestro Andrea Pirlo gave Juve the lead with an expertly placed free kick in the 11th minute at Juventus Stadium, Arturo Vidal converted a penalty in the 16th and Alessandro Matri added another in the 19th...
09:11 AM, Sep 30, 2012
Milan: Serie A champion Juventus came from behind to beat Genoa 3-1 on Sunday and extend its perfect record ahead of its return to the Champions League. Ciro Immobile gave Genoa the lead against the club which still owns half his contract, and the home side had several chances to double its advantage as Juventus seemed headed for its first league defeat since May, 2011. However, Mirko Vucinic and Kwadwo...
11:40 PM, Sep 16, 2012
Rome: Defending champions Juventus moved atop Serie A with a 4-1 win over 10-man Udinese on Sunday that extended the Bianconeri's unbeaten streak in the Italian league to 41 matches, while AS Roma thwarted Inter Milan's challenge with a 3-1 win. The Juventus match turned hot when Udinese goalkeeper Zeljko Brkic was sent off for a foul on Sebastian Giovinco, leading to a penalty kick that Chile midfielder Arturo Vidal...
08:52 AM, Sep 03, 2012
Boston: Michael Bradley and Alessandro Florenzi scored second-half goals to lift Italy's Roma to a 2-1 victory over Liverpool in a preseason friendly at Fenway Park on Wednesday. Bradley sent a right-footed shot past keeper Brad Jones that caromed into the goal off the left post in the 63rd minute, drawing chants of "USA! USA!". The midfielder is the son of former U.S. coach Bob Bradley. Florenzi scored off a...
08:48 AM, Jul 26, 2012
Milan: Lecce are on the verge of relegation after losing 1-0 at home to Fiorentina in Serie A as new coach Vincenzo Guerini won his first game in charge of the Tuscan side on Saturday. Alessio Cerci scored the only goal of the game 10 minutes before half-time. Lecce goalkeeper Massimiliano Benassi almost equalised in injury time but his strike hit his own team-mate. In the late game, Francesco Totti...
08:58 AM, May 06, 2012
The Lupi captain could not have wished for a better return to action. ...
02:45 PM, Nov 23, 2009
Coach Luciano Spalletti made a few changes to the winning line-up from last week. ...
01:23 PM, Nov 24, 2008
Sydney: Australia's pace spearhead Mitchell Johnson says his lacklustre performance in Sri Lanka was more a case of bad luck and that he is in form to take wickets during the forthcoming South Africa tour. Johnson took just six wickets at 52.17 over three Tests in Australia's 1-0 series win against Sri Lanka last month. The left-armer, however, feels he is in good rhythm and is raring to exploit the...
12:05 AM, Mar 07, 2008
Roma are three points behind leaders Inter Milan, who drew 0-0 at Palermo. ...
03:33 PM, Oct 29, 2007
Francesco Totti says beating Manchester United in the Champions League would be better than winning the World Cup. ...
10:13 PM, Apr 10, 2007
