Juventus are in a strange position.
Despite winning three Serie A titles in four years, the club have been fined by the state of Sardinia over an incident involving a fan in their home stadium.
The fan, identified only as J, has claimed that the player in question touched his thigh during a match against Genoa.
J is now suing the club for €30,000.
In a statement issued by the club’s lawyer on Tuesday, the attorney general said that the matter “appears to be of a more general nature than the alleged incident with J and the investigation is continuing”.
What does this mean for Juve?
It’s not all bad news.
Juventus are not the first Italian club to be fined over fan behaviour.
In January this year, Juventus were fined €25,000 for fan behaviour after a supporter attacked a fan during their home match against Udinese.
It’s also not the only club in the country to be hit with such fines.
Earlier this month, Bologna were fined by Italy’s tax authorities for their fan behaviour, after the fan was caught on video being abusive towards the team’s captain, Alessandro Del Piero.
The club’s statement read: “The incident that occurred on Friday afternoon in which the fan in question struck Del Pieros thigh in the middle of the pitch is a clear violation of the law, and has resulted in the immediate sanctioning of the team.
We take all this seriously and are cooperating with the police investigation.”
However, the Italian FA says that there is no law in place to ban fans from being involved in violence against players.
In the past, it has been suggested that this could be the case with the case of Italy’s Serie B, where the team was fined for fan violence against former Milan star Alessandro Nesta.
This is just one of many problems facing Juve in their attempt to recover from their €100m debt, and they are currently facing financial difficulties on the back of their disappointing domestic league form.
What do you think of Juventus’ recent financial problems?
Do you think that their behaviour towards the fan should be a deterrent to other fans?
