Serie C: Lucchese manager Giancarlo Favarin handed five-month suspension for headbutting opposition coach

Rome: A third-division coach in Italy has been banned for five months for head-butting an opponent and inciting violence.

Lucchese coach Giancarlo Favarin knocked Alessandria coach Gaetano Mancino to the ground with a powerful head-butt on Sunday at the end of their 2-2 draw in Serie C.

The Lega Pro, which governs that division, says in a statement that Favarin is banned until 30 June for that incident as well as “for having expressed blasphemous phrases during the game; for having invited his own player to ‘break the legs’ of an opponent.”

Lucchese has refuted reports the 60-year-old Favarin will be fired for the incident.

Serie C: Giancarlo Favarin, técnico da Lucchese, foi suspenso por cinco meses. Ele deu uma cabeçada num auxiliar do Alessandria, no último final de semana. pic.twitter.com/gr3HR7nAbc

— Calciopédia (@calciopedia) January 29, 2019

“The decision has left us genuinely perplexed,” Lucchese sporting director Antonio Obbedio said on Tuesday, adding, “not so much for the disqualification inflicted on the coach, as for the unequal treatment regarding other cases that occurred on the same day.”

Mancino was handed a two-match ban for “offensive and provocative behavior” towards Favarin.