“I will cheer for the referees. I hope for a game without simulations, those are a virus»- Corriere TV

Sergio Mattarella exceptional fan for Italian cup final, Fiorentina-Inter. The President of the Republic received the two teams at the Quirinale before the match and specified: «I will wait with great impartiality for the match resultnot only because this is my role, which if anything requires me to cheer for the referees and not for the teams, but also because I’m sure you will offer a great sporting spectacle». The Head of State recalled the great teams of the past: Costagliola’s Viola, Lorenzi’s Nerazzurri, then Moratti and Herrera, and again Burgnich and Facchetti, Suarez and Corso. And then he appealed to the players for a game dedicated to fair play: «I’m sure it will be a match of a high technical and sporting level and I am convinced that it will also be a match marked not only by the great competitive commitment loyalty and fairness». In this regard, Mattarella said he appreciated the so-called ‘third time’, the fair play and the hugs between opponents at the end of the game, but he showed himself decidedly irritated not only by the voluntary fouls but also by another mischief from many football stars, the simulations. With a joke she branded them as «a virus that looks like covid: it spread all over the world as seen in the World Cup in Qatar».