Minister for Sport sees no issues in Italy’s Bosnia celebration: ‘Move on’

Italy’s Minister for Sport and Youth, Andrea Abodi, believes that the Azzurri’s celebration of Bosnia’s victory over Wales has been overemphasised: ‘There doesn’t seem to be anything provocative.’

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Minister for Sport: No ‘excessive enthusiasm’ in Italy’s celebration

A group of Italian players was caught on camera on Thursday night while briefly celebrating Bosnia and Herzegovina’s penalty shootout win over Wales in the World Cup play-off semifinal.

The victory sent Bosnia to the Final against Italy as the Azzurri had beaten Northern Ireland 2-0 in Bergamo.

The celebration by Italian players upset a few fans on social media and even prompted one of the players involved, Federico Dimarco, to text his former Inter teammate and Bosnia captain Edin Dzeko, according to Gazzetta.

Italy’s Minister for Sport Abodi, however, defended the Azzurri, arguing that the players did not want to provoke or mock their next opponents.

“It doesn’t seem to me that there was excessive enthusiasm,” Abodi told Gazzetta.

“I don’t even know what they were thinking at that moment. I don’t understand why that celebration was given so much importance. We’re talking about guys who had just finished a match, and there doesn’t seem to be anything provocative. Let’s try to move on. We already have plenty of objectively complicated things, and this is a controversy that doesn’t make any sense.”

Italy have returned to Florence to prepare for the World Cup play-off Final, which will be played at the Bilino Polje Stadium in Zenica, on Tuesday, March 31.

• Read more – Dimarco unwise to celebrate, but televising incident only harms Italy