Roma’s Mancini escapes with fine after ‘rat’ flag incident

April 10 – Roma defender Gianluca Mancini has escaped a ban after being fined €5,000 for waving a flag depicting Lazio fans as ‘rats’ on Saturday.

Mancini’s celebrations at the end of Saturday’s capital derby saw the player waving a huge flag in Lazio colours that also had a giant rat painted on it.

The Italian Football Federation opened an investigation the following day and, after reading its report, the league’s sporting judge opted to sanction Mancini with a fine.

Mancini, whose goal gave Roma a 1-0 win over Lazio in the capital derby, had apologised after the match. “I didn’t want to offend anyone,” he said. “I took the first flag they gave me.”

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