Napoli’s Head of Communication Nicola Lombardo appeared to tell Lorenzo Insigne he ordered a journalist to start a campaign on Twitter against Inter-Napoli referee Davide Massa using the hashtag #ControlliamoMassa.
Lombardo was speaking to Insigne prior to a press conference held by Napoli on Monday. Zoom microphones had already been switched on, but neither Lombardo nor Insigne were aware.
Napoli’s Head of Communication Nicola Lombardo appeared to tell Lorenzo Insigne he ordered a journalist to start a campaign on Twitter against Inter-Napoli referee Davide Massa using the hashtag #ControlliamoMassa.
Lombardo was speaking to Insigne prior to a press conference held by Napoli on Monday. Zoom microphones had already been switched on, but neither Lombardo nor Insigne were aware.
The audio file went viral on social media as Lombardo appeared to not only reproach Insigne for the straight red card received against Inter for insulting referee Davide Massa, but also revealed he had ordered a journalist to start a campaign against the official.
“You can’t tell a referee to f…off if you are the captain,” Lombardo appeared to tell Insigne.
“But, they believe I was not wrong…” Insigne replied.
“Forget about it, we are doing a huge battle about this. I told [Carlo] Alvino to tweet #ControlliamoMassa, which is trending already,” Lombardo said.
Alvino, a popular Naples-based journalist had launched the hashtag #ControlliamoMassa (#ControlMassa, in English) a few days earlier.
“#ControlliamoMassa to make sure the uniformity of judgment accompanies any refereeing decision. I invite everyone to follow the directions of Mr. Massa to check if he always adopts the same decisions in front of verbal or gestural offenses. Retweet if you agree.”
The message was retweeted 508 times, liked 675 times and had 118 comments.
#controlliamomassa Per far sì che l’uniformità di giudizio accompagni ogni decisione arbitrale invito tutti a seguire le direzioni di gara del sig. Massa per controllare se adotta sempre lo stesso comportamento di fronte alle offese verbali o gestuali. Se d’accordo retwitta.
— Carlo Alvino (@Carloalvino) December 17, 2020