After “incitement to hatred”
Lazio captain Immobile is attacked in front of his child
March 15, 2024, 7:54 p.m
Lazio Rome captain Ciro Immobile has been exposed to rumors and verbal attacks on social media for days. He is now physically attacked in front of his family. The striker complains of an “incitement to hatred” against him.
Lazio Rome captain Ciro Immobile was attacked in front of his family. A group attacked him verbally and physically in front of his son’s preschool, Immobile reported. His wife and four-year-old son were present at the incident. According to media reports, the former Dortmund player and his family have already had to endure verbal attacks in public in the past few days.
Since the resignation of the previous Lazio coach Maurizio Sarri, rumors have been circulating on social media that Immobile was involved in the coach’s departure. According to Immobile’s team of spokespersons, Friday’s attack was the result of the “incitement to hatred carried out by some media and journalists through their social channels.” They spread hateful statements against the striker.
Shortly after the incident, the 34-year-old instructed his lawyers to take criminal action against those responsible. “Inciting hatred is a criminal offense that must be punished,” said his spokesman team in a statement. Lazio Rome sided with the captain. “Any act of verbal or physical violence must be condemned unanimously, decisively and without justification.”
Sarri’s successor has apparently been chosen
On Wednesday, Sarri surprisingly announced his departure from Lazio. There was recently a crisis under the Italian: Lazio failed against FC Bayern with a 3-0 defeat in the second leg of the round of 16 of the Champions League. There have recently been three defeats in a row in Serie A. Many fans claimed that Immobile had turned his back on Sarri, which in turn caused him to resign.
On Friday it also became clear who would be his successor. According to media reports, club president and owner Claudio Lotito is said to have agreed on a contract with Croatian Igor Tudor until June 2025. After the league game against Frosinone Calcio on Saturday evening, the successor to the resigned Maurizio Sarri should be officially announced.
The 45-year-old Tudor has been without a coaching job since his resignation as coach of the French first division club Olympique Marseille in June 2023 after just one season. The former Croatia international already knows the Italian league well from his time as a player at Juventus Turin (1998 to 2007) and as a coach at Udinese Calcio (2018, 2019), Juve (2020-21) and Hellas Verona (2021-22).