Your guards won’t save your life

The Juventus striker returns to Florence on Wednesday.

Hired by Juventus from Fiorentina last January for 81 million euros, this Wednesday Vlahovic returned to Florence to face a hostile environment and was blazing with xenophobic death threats for the Serbian striker.

“Your guards won’t save your life. Gypsy, you’re done,” read the banner displayed on the wall of the Artemio Franchi stadium, on the eve of the first leg of the Coppa Italia “half” between the two teams.

Through a statement, Fiorentina disavowed the incident and asked its supporters to avoid any kind of injury to Vlahovic. For his part, Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri called for peace in football in the face of the escalating war between Russia and Ukraine. “Fiorentina fans are smart and they know this is just a football game. Vlahovic has always understood the importance of Fiorentina in his life. What people should be worried about is the war in Europe.”