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Maurizio Sarri
Maurizio Sarri: zero tolerance. Photograph: Ciro de Luca/Reuters
Maurizio Sarri: zero tolerance. Photograph: Ciro de Luca/Reuters

Said & Done: Claudio Lotito; Batman; and Montpellier's bad oaf

This article is more than 8 years old

Also featuring: Tokyo Sexwale on democracy; Gabriel Tamas’s church clause; and a herb-and-yam based mix

Busy week for

Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri: attacking “embarrassing” prejudice from racist Lazio fans – “it left us all upset”; and clarifying why he called Roberto Mancini a “faggot”: “I just meant he was a show-off. It was nothing to do with sex.”

Nailing the line on the racist chants from Lazio’s perspective – president Claudio Lotito: “It’s not racism, black lads play for Lazio too.” His previous best: 2005 – Lotito on Paolo Di Canio’s salutes: “It’s not a political gesture, even the Pope does it.” 2013 – Lotito on monkey chants, which ultras dismissed as “banter”: “This debate is taking a bad turn, Lazio gets seen as racist and it’s not. We have black players too.” 2014 – Lotito on FA president Carlo Tavecchio calling black players “banana eaters”: “Even the priest at the altar can make a mistake. Carlo just used a colourful term. You are blowing all this up in the media.”

Also sending a message

Uefa: reassessing Dynamo Kyiv’s two-game stadium ban for racist violence – cutting it to one, and halving their fine to €50,000.

Football family news

Best clean break: Paraguay’s Alejandro Domínguez, elected unopposed as head of Conmebol, pledging “a new era of credibility”. Domínguez, a close ally of extradited predecessor Juan Ángel Napout, says he’ll bring a fresh attitude: “Transparency in all that we do.” Napout denies wrongdoing.

Most upbeat: Fifa candidate Tokyo Sexwale, meeting presidential rivals in Qatar to discuss “alliances and pacts”. “This is democratic, this is good. We are now talking, this one is talking to me, that one is talking to me. But who is talking? We are brothers, we are colleagues, comrades in arms.”

Plus: mystery of the week: Guatemala’s FA accounts, off by $1m according to a leaked audit. Former head Brayan Jiménez – arrested drunk last month after going on the run – and deputy Héctor Trujillo – arrested in December when his cruise ship docked in Florida – deny wrongdoing.

Elsewhere: drawing a line

Bayern Munich, moving on from the human rights row over their winter training camp in Qatar by signing Doha’s airport as a “platinum sponsor”. President Karl Hopfner says critics should lay off: “This is an economic deal. If politicians want to make a name for themselves with complaints, that’s their business.”

Most seamless

Liverpool’s owners Fenway Sports Group, responding to a week of tough PR by tweaking their online vision statement. Before: “Transforming fans into customers”. After: “Transforming consumers into fans”.

Manager news: last week’s moves

Brazil, 2 Dec: Socorrense president Washington Alcino unveils new coach Guidon as “the real deal”. 1 Feb: Sacks him for “unforgivable results”. 2 Feb: Forgives and rehires him. 3 Feb: Sacks him again after a 1-1 draw.

Also making changes: Italy – Palermo naming their sixth coach this season after finding out Guillermo Barros Schelotto doesn’t have his badges; Livorno rehiring Christian Panucci two months after sacking him; Colombia’s Boyacá Chicó sacking Ricardo Pérez after one game this season; and Brazil’s Portuguesa sacking coach Estevam Soares after two. Soares: “I could have done with more time.”

Most wary

Romania: Steaua owner Gigi Becali, re-signing defender Gabriel Tamas on a short-term contract with break clauses including an alcohol ban and “compulsory church attendance”. In 2013 Cluj released Tamas a week after signing him following “incidents”. President Iuliu Muresan: “He came, he drank, he left.”

Spat of the week

France: Montpellier president Louis Nicollin, 72, clarifying his press conference attack on the sports editor of local paper Midi Libre as “a big dickhead”. “That’s not what I meant. It’s not what I think.” Midi Libre: “It’s more verbal diarrhoea. One day he’s affable and smart, the next he’s a bad oaf.”

Trip to forget

Bolivia: Atlético Ciclón – turning up to face Real Potosi without a change strip, buying a full set of fake Roma shirts from a stall, writing numbers on them in black marker, then losing 4-0. Local media: “It seems like a joke, but it is not.”

Superhero news

Brazil: Campeonato Paranaense club Foz do Iguaçu debuting new mascot Fozman. Local media reported “an oversized man in a tight Batman outfit, clinging to his frame … Fozman yielded no luck; his team lost 3-0 to Coritiba.”

.@Fozfutebolclube v @Coritiba: certo, PARA TUDO e alguém explica ESSE BATMAN OBESO pic.twitter.com/t7zcbfK9IM

— Non Sense Football (@NSenseFootball) February 3, 2016

Plus: best hex

Brazil: Model Bárbara Evans, alleged to have paid a celebrity shaman to curse ex-partner Paolo Guerrero. Reports say the striker’s five-month goal drought was due to “acts performed by Father Sergio de Ogum, inspired by a woman scorned”.

Explaining Guerrero’s recent return to form: Father Sergio, telling local media he lifted the hex with a herb-and-yam based mix. “He now just has to take more care of his spiritual side, so he doesn’t fall victim again.”

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