Fresh controversy has struck Italian football, but this time it doesn’t involve the Serie A or any of its players, teams. An incident happened in Serie C where Triestina’s Spanish football manager Pep Clotet had a moment of madness on Friday, grabbing and pushing his own player Raimonds Krollis, from Latvia, after he received a straight red card for a challenge.
The altercation took place in the 33rd-minute when Triestina took on Giana Ermino. After the red card when Krollis was walking off the pitch, and went to his manager. But Clotet lost his cool and held the attacker by his collar and began to shake him furiously.
Surprisingly, Krollis didn’t defend himself, and had a dejected expression. Triestina eventually crashed to a 0-1 defeat as Gabriel Avinci scored a late winner in the 87th-minute.
After the match, the Spaniard defended his actions. Speaking to reporters, he said, “I think, regarding the incident with the red card, the reaction was justified – that sending off should never happen in football.”
“Krollis is here on loan, representing another club that sent him here, and he does this to Triestina, to the club that entrusted him to us, and to the game itself.”
“What went through my mind? I have an eight-year-old son who saw this today. I come from a culture where this kind of behaviour is simply unacceptable. If a player does something like this on the street, there would be legal consequences. It’s not normal, and we must not accept it in any way,” he added.
Meanwhile, Clotet also sacked Krollis, stating, “I told him exactly this face to face: with me as coach, he’s done with Triestina from today.”
In the past, Clotet has managed teams like Cornella, Espanyol B, Halmstad, Oxford United, Birmingham City, SPAL and Brescia. He has also worked as an assistant head coach at Leeds United, as part of Garry Monk’s staff.