April 08, (THEWILL) – Following their UEFA Europa Conference League defeat against Bodo/Glimt on Thursday, Roma issued a statement in reaction to claims levelled against a member of their coaching staff, while UEFA investigates what exactly took place.
It was claimed that the Giallorossi goalie coach, Nuno Santos assaulted Bodo/Glimt coach Kjetil Knutsen, in the tunnel after the Norwegian side’s 2-1 quarter-final first leg win.
During the altercation, Knutsen claimed Santos grabbed him by the neck and pushed him against a wall in an incident that is being reviewed by UEFA and local authorities and for which Roma has provided assistance to uncover the facts.
The Serie A club issued the following statement on Friday: AS Roma would like to note that, following the conclusion of the match on Thursday evening, club directors and other members of the coaching staff remained at the Aspmyra Stadion until 00:45 local time, purely for the purpose of providing UEFA and local authorities with all the details of what transpired in the areas outside the changing rooms, following the full-time whistle.
“The club has total confidence that UEFA and its various bodies will ultimately establish with clarity and precision where responsibility lies for the events that occurred, events that we have already described and explained in detail to all the relevant authorities present on site.
“Finally, the club would like to emphasise that it has always conducted itself in a manner that upholds the values of fair play and sportsmanship, both on and off the pitch: the same principles that we hope will be on display throughout next week’s second leg.”
The Norwegians defeated Roma for the second time this season, with Ulrik Saltnes and Hugo Vetlesen scoring second-half goals to cancel out a Lorenzo Pellegrini goal in the first half.
After the game, Pellegrini said that he thought Knutsen attacked Santos first, a claim that Roma firmly refutes.
In response to the incident, Bodo/Glimt issued the following statement: “Roma is bombarding the media with untruths in an attempt to hide the unsportsmanlike behaviour.
“Glimt knows that there is a video of the incident, which shows the attack on Knutsen from representatives of Rome’s coaching team. The club has seen this video. We demand that the public have access to this video owned by UEFA.”
Also commenting on the issue was Frode Thomassen, the General manager at the Norwegian side. He said: “Glimt sees no other choice than to report Nuno Santos to the police on the basis of the physical attack on Kjetil Knutsen. It is completely an unacceptable behaviour.
“This is a systematic provocation, manipulation and finally the exercise of physical violence against Kjetil Knutsen. We are confident that an objective body will ignore incorrect claims from Roma.”
On Friday, UEFA stated that the incident was being looked into, saying: “In accordance with Article 31(4) of the UEFA Disciplinary Regulations, a UEFA Ethics and Disciplinary Inspector has been appointed to conduct a disciplinary investigation regarding reported incidents which allegedly occurred at the end of the 2021/22 Europa Conference League quarter-final match between FK Bodo/Glimt and AS Roma played on 7 April 2022 in Norway.
“Information on this matter will be made available in due course.”
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
