Marco Ianni, the number two assistant under Maurizio Sarri at Chelsea, has certainly had much better moments in his life than the one which made him infamous on October 20. When a rejuvenated Ross Barkley scored the equalizer for Chelsea, deep in extra time against Manchester United and salvaged a point for the Blues, Ianni let his emotions get the best of him.
He ran over to the United bench and celebrated directly in front of Mourinho with a pumped fist. Mourinho got hot tempered and had to be restrained. A fracas ensued, but no punches were thrown.
After the match, both Marco Ianni and Maurizio Sarri apologized for the incident that instigated the melee. Mourinho accepted the apology and even went so far as to say that he hopes Ianni doesn’t get sacked for his actions.
Mourinho considers the matter closed, but the Football Association does not. They opened up disciplinary proceedings, and an FA statement today reads: “Chelsea coach Marco Ianni has been fined £6,000 after he admitted an FA improper conduct charge. It concerned his behaviour in the 96th minute of the game against Manchester United on 20 October 2018.”
Sarri has said that Chelsea would consider whether or not any internal punishment will be handed down on Ianni once the FA delivered its verdict. With this decision, I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Lineups.com and Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.
