Naples, Feb 3 (IANS) Serie A side Napoli’s head coach Maurizio Sarri on Wednesday said he has no problems if a gay footballer plays for his team.
“There are no gays in football? No. There were, there are, and there always will be,” Sarri was quoted as saying by goal.com.
“I hope this whole incident, born badly and ended well, can help people move forward and come out into the open. At least at Napoli, there would be no problems with it.”
Sarri faced a two-game suspension after he was found guilty of making gay comments towards Serie rivals Inter Milan’s coach Roberto Mancini.
Allegedly Sarri had used Italian homophobic slurs “frocio” and “finocchio” towards the former Manchester City coach when the two sides were battling it out in the Copa Italia semi-final.
But Sarri says he wanted to use some other words to label Mancini as a “show off”.
“I wanted to use the term ‘Fighetto’ — show-off — not something to do with sexual preference. The truth is, I am a proper Tuscan and I tend to swear a lot. I was wrong, I admit it,” Sarri said.