There’s no love lost between the Bianconeri and Fiorentina, which escalated with offensive insults before and during Sunday’s Serie A match.
With both head coaches under pressure prior to kick-off, although Juventus’ Thiago Motta is certainly now feeling the heat more than Fiorentina’s Raffaele Palladino following Juve’s shockingly poor 3-0 defeat, the home supporters taunted the Bianconneri.
Before the tussle, Fiorentina fans unveiled an offensive message inside the Stadio Artemio Franchi that clearly read “Juve merda”.
Juventus ordered the national football federation (FIGC) and Serie A officials to investigate this damning pre-match message. As a result, Fiorentina were issued a fine and to curb their unsporting behaviour.
Derision directed towards Juve players
Palladino, who has steered the Tuscany team to the Conference League quarter-finals against Slovenia side Celje, could do nothing about his club’s supporters further insulting Juventus during the one-sided game.
Former Fiorentina favourites were subjected to jeers and ridicule from the home fans. Argentine right winger Nicolas Gonzalez, who moved to Juve on loan with an obligation to buy last August, and Serbia striker Dusan Vlahovic were taunted.
Gonzalez was ineffective throughout, and hauled off on the hour-mark, while Fiorentina fans mocked their ex-goal machine with chants of “Where’s Vlahovic?” as he has severely fallen down the pecking order under Motta since the start of the year.
Vlahovic is a very strong person, both physically and mentally, so any cheap boos from Fiorentina followers would not have stopped him trying to find the back of the net had Motta bravely unleashed the 25-year-old.
Similar incidents of insults of rude messages in Serie A crowds have largely gone punished. With Juventus currently feeling sorry for themselves after tasting back-to-back wins, the club appeared to be clutching at straws with their request to investigate. After the fan being slapped on Fiorentina then the relationship between the clubs will have soured.
They could have suffered even further insults during their Fiorentina flop, having already been booed off when thrashed at home to Atalanta, but the Juventus Ultras abandoned their support in Florence.
Mid-table Genoa are Juve’s next opponents, who have only lost once in their past six Serie A games, and defeat for Motta’s men would surely see the coach and his squad derided by their own fans.