Nobody can doubt Salernitana coach Davide Nicola’s passion, as during the game with Fiorentina he took off a shoe and threatened to throw it at his players.
He took over with the club rock bottom and seemingly doomed, but won back-to-back matches and was leading Fiorentina 1-0 at the Stadio Arechi this afternoon when the incident occurred.
According to Sky Sport Italia pitch-side reporters, Luca Ranieri made a mistake to allow a counter-attack, prompting Nicola to take off his shoe and wave it at him, as if threatening to throw it in his direction.
Salernitana manager Davide Nicola took off his shoe and threw it in anger at his team's defending 😂
Amazing. pic.twitter.com/LIa72UmLhL
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) April 24, 2022
It was a gesture familiar to anyone with Italian parents.
Ranieri had been in trouble earlier in the game, as he insisted for superstitious reasons on wearing boots that were a little rough around the edges.
Despite having duct tape wrapped around them, one boot finally gave up after 25 minutes and the sole came off, flapping in the Salerno breeze.
#Nicola si è tolto una scarpa per tirarla in testa a qualcuno #salernitana pic.twitter.com/v188Sn3QpZ
— Ufficio Certificazioni e Patenti di Lazialità (@ufficiopatenti) April 24, 2022