The 28th day of Serie A was the scene of a scene of rare violence for a coach this Sunday. At the end of the match lost by his team (1-0), Lecce coach Roberto D’Aversa completely lost his cool and ended up headbutting Verona’s French striker Thomas Henry.
Incidents broke out in the greatest confusion with shoving between players and management of the two teams at the final whistle. As Henry, surrounded by teammates and club officials, appeared to be heading to the locker room, D’Aversa walked towards him and headbutted him. The Frenchman, who appeared to be injured in the right cheekbone, was then excluded by the referee from the match, as was the Lecce coach.
“It’s inexcusable”
“I went on the pitch to prevent my players from being sent off, because there was a lot of provocation from the Verona players in the last minutes of the match and after the final whistle,” explained D’Aversa on the Sky Sport channel. “It’s not a nice gesture, I recognize it, it’s inexcusable and I explained it to the people of Verona. But I did not enter the field to make this gesture,” he insisted.
D’Aversa, 48, has been in charge of Lecce since June 2023, after coaching Parma (2016-20) and Sampdoria (2021-22). With this defeat, the fourth in its last five matches, Lecce has fallen to 16th place and is only one point ahead of the 18th and first relegation place, Frosinone. Verona, which had two victories in a row for the first time since August, jumped to 13th place, but is only two points ahead of 18th place.
