"After the events that occurred at the end of the Lecce-Verona match, Lecce club has announced that it has relieved coach Roberto D'Aversa of his duties. The coach and his staff are to be thanked for their work”. Yesterday morning, shortly before 10 a.m., an official note from the Salento club announced an epilogue (tenth presence skipped in the Serie A season) that seemed inevitable, after the headbutt thrown by the Apulian coach at Verona striker Thomas Henry in tomorrow's heated post-match between the Giallorossi and the Gialloblù. Immediate was the club's distancing of itself, with a very harsh statement: in fact, Lecce, "while assessing the situation of general nervousness in the end of the match, strongly condemns the gesture of its coach as contrary to the principles and values of sport". On Instagram, the French player had instead written: "I apologize for reacting, with words, to the many provocations experienced on the field, an understandable fact in a challenge with such high stakes. But that does not and can never justify a headbutt when you have already made your way to the locker room, happy with the three points you earned". Between the two, however, there would have been a clarifying telephone conversation. The technician, on the other hand, had acknowledged his responsibilities, again entrusting his reflections to a post on Instagram: "I would like to apologize to everyone and at the same time briefly reconstruct the sad and unpleasant episode that saw me as a negative protagonist at the end of the Lecce-Verona match. I came into head-to-head contact with Henry, but I did not hit the Verona footballer with a headbutt, nor did I receive it from him. It was a physical contact, a bad example, an unsportsmanlike image daughter of the great tension and adrenaline, which, however, should not and will not be my excuse or extenuating circumstances. I was wrong and I apologize. I got carried away by the heat and lost lucidity, but not to the point of hitting another person. This does not belong to me, I reject and do not accept it. Once again I apologize to Henry, to the Lecce, Verona and Italian public, to the referees, to the two clubs, to my management, my staff and my team”.
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