Fiorentina sacked boss Delio Rossi after he incredibly attacked his own midfielder Adem Ljajic during Wednesday's 2-2 draw with Novara.

The stunning scenes came after the player's anger at being substituted just 32 minutes into the Serie A match.

TV pictures clearly show the manager attacking Ljajic as he took his place on the bench. The player appeared to sarcastically clap his decision to substitute him, and Rossi responded by throwing punches as others on the bench attempted to restrain him.

After deciding to fire the manager - the 30th Serie A sacking since the end of last season - Fiorentina president Andrea Della Valle said: 'In a few seconds months of stress came out. I am sorry because the coach has never committed acts of this kind.

'For his own good to make him understand he has made a mistake I had to take this decision. No provocation justifies this reaction.'

Della Valle also revealed Ljajic would also face action for his part in the incident. But he said he would wait to announce who would take charge of the side for the rest of the season.

'Also for respect of the person with whom I believed in to reconstruct Fiorentina I will say nothing official until tomorrow,' he added. 'Then you will know who will be given the reins of the team.

'We will also take proportionate measures against Ljajic.

'Rossi has not justified it to me but he is someone who has never done anything like this.

'I am sorry also that in the 10th year of my reign and with what he has brought - we have won at Milan and Roma and I believed this evening we would have achieved safety, certainly not that I would have to take a decision like this.'

The dramatic events unfolded as the Viola fought to confirm their the Serie A status. The point was enough to put them six points clear of the drop zone with two games remaining.

Fiorentina are all but certain to be in the top flight next season, but it does not mask what has been a difficult campaign. And it seems the pressure got to Rossi, who replaced Sinisa Mihajlovic at the helm in November.

Fiorentina were 2-0 down at the time, but battled back to claim an important point. And Della Valle wants to see more of that kind of spirit as they look to recover from the shock of Rossi's departure.

'This team needs unity to get away from the relegation situation,' he said. I know now that Delio Rossi is suffering more than anyone. 'But I want to respect the work he has done until now.'

General manager Vincenzo Guerini will take over the reins from Rossi until the end of the season.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Lm_UPqY_pVM

http://www.dailymail...dem-Ljajic.html

Its a crazy story.

Add this to the Genoa-Rossi debacle a few weeks ago, and there have been some unforgettable moments in Italy this year.

Bloody hell, thats mental, no wonder he got the boot. Just heard he`s been banned by the Italian FA for 3 months.

AVB after 2 seasons at Chelsea

I quite understand his reaction, even if I don't condone it. The team has been playing quite badly and have been fighting relegation this season, so the manager has surely been under pressure. And then he has to cope with arrogant little s*its playing for the team. In the end one acted in a most disrespectful way and the manager finally snapped.

He shouldn't have hit him though (even if I can understand him wanting to). He should have just told him "f*ck off, that's the last time you played for this team".

This might happen actually. Ljajic has been suspended for the last two games of the season and have been fined. Nobody knows how much, but there are rumours that it was quite a lot.

Some also think that Ljajic will be kicked out/sold this summer as well.

I quite understand his reaction, even if I don't condone it. The team has been playing quite badly and have been fighting relegation this season, so the manager has surely been under pressure. And then he has to cope with arrogant little s*its playing for the team. In the end one acted in a most disrespectful way and the manager finally snapped.

He shouldn't have hit him though (even if I can understand him wanting to). He should have just told him "f*ck off, that's the last time you played for this team".

This might happen actually. Ljajic has been suspended for the last two games of the season and have been fined. Nobody knows how much, but there are rumours that it was quite a lot.

Some also think that Ljajic will be kicked out/sold this summer as well.

The rumour is that Rossi's son is mentally impaired and Ljajic said something along the lines of "You are even more retarded than your son" whilst sarcastically applauding.

If so his actions are wholly justified in my opinion

Crazy ,Crazy

The rumour is that Rossi's son is mentally impaired and Ljajic said something along the lines of "You are even more retarded than your son" whilst sarcastically applauding.

If so his actions are wholly justified in my opinion

If thats true then I dont blame him for twatting him at all, in fact he should have kicked the little sh*t up and down the pitch. But its par for the course with that club and its recent history.

Edited May 4, 201214 yr by dkw

The rumour is that Rossi's son is mentally impaired and Ljajic said something along the lines of "You are even more retarded than your son" whilst sarcastically applauding.

If so his actions are wholly justified in my opinion

Well if that is true, then he deserved every slap he got. Absolutely despicable.

The rumour is that Rossi's son is mentally impaired and Ljajic said something along the lines of "You are even more retarded than your son" whilst sarcastically applauding.

If so his actions are wholly justified in my opinion

It's not true, Rossi doesn't have mentally impaired son.

Edited May 4, 201214 yr by BelgradeCFC

I've heard that this Ljajic were shouting out about the mother of Rossi's death? This sort of thing won't happen if nothing has been said, that's for sure.

The rumour is that Rossi's son is mentally impaired and Ljajic said something along the lines of "You are even more retarded than your son" whilst sarcastically applauding.

If so his actions are wholly justified in my opinion

lol id be pretty offended if i were rossi's son. dude was a serie A footballer yet people consider him retarded

i dont think ljajic said anything like that, its just journalists stirring up sh*t. first it was the retarded son then people were like 'wtf he doesnt have a retarded son' then it was 'well if it wasnt the retarded son then it mustve been his dead mother' . . . its like a monty python skit ffs

Edited May 4, 201214 yr by Lane

I've heard that this Ljajic were shouting out about the mother of Rossi's death? This sort of thing won't happen if nothing has been said, that's for sure.

There's a lot of stories what Ljajic said as I heard, but I think that this thing with Ljajic is unfortunate circumstance and shows that Italian football is in big frustrations, particulary Fiorentina. All that rage would come to surface once, Ljajic has only unwillingly pressed the red button. Problems are much deeper than what Ljajic said to Rossi, and he for sure is not a reason why Fiorentina is struggling against relegation, cause he only plays small part this season when other forwards are not fit.

It's a massive shame; I quite like Fiorentina. They used to be a fairly good team, even though they had Adrian Mutu on the books. However, they've disintegrated badly over the past few years. They have precisely one class player now (Jovetic); Vargas and Montolivo have been underperforming, while it beggars belief that mediocre journeymen like Kharja can just show up and expect a place in the side. Some years ago, they would've barely got a look-in with Fiorentina at all. This reflects how Fiorentina have spent the last couple of years replacing good players (Frey/Gilardino) with mediocrities like Amauri. With that in mind, it's no surprise to see them slide down the table although they've saved themselves from relegation for the time being.

Adem Ljajic is another underperformer; I'm not going to expand on the rumours surrounding what he said, but his conduct towards Rossi was certainly disrespectful. Rossi took it too far, but no doubt the stress was accumulating for a while. This Fiorentina side has become thoroughly unprofessional as well as mediocre, so this incident clearly highlights that a rebuilding process is needed. If players treat their managers with such outward contempt, then something is quite wrong (Fiorentina actually fought back after Ljajic's substitution; go figure).

N.B: Adrian Mutu moved to a team that got relegated (Cesena)!

Edited May 6, 201214 yr by DaRick

For a team that should be looking for European football, they signed players that were struggling in other clubs expecting them to be match changers. This team should have been competing with the like of Juventus, and not signing their rejects. And as much as I like Mihaljovic for his football ability (not his football brains though), he was not ready to take over this club and perform a restructuration.

N.B: Adrian Mutu moved to a team that got relegated (Cesena)!

I guess we'll never see the money he owes us then!

There are also speculations that Mihajlovic's "spirit" is still in their locker room, and that created more difficult job for Rossi.

They won't let you do anything anymore...

I guess we'll never see the money he owes us then!

He'd probably declare bankruptcy before paying it, TBH.

Agree with the rest of your post tho. Mihajlovic started the rot; it merely got worse under Rossi.