Marcello Lippi claims he has never met a gay football player, but “would not exclude anyone from the Nazionale just for their sexual inclinations.”
The debate on homosexuality in sport is always a controversial one and Italy boss Lippi was asked about it in a video podcast by Klaus Davi.
“I don’t think there are any gay players, or at least in 40 years of my career I have never met any,” insisted the former Juventus and Inter Coach.
“It could well be that there are a few with these tendencies, but they don’t go around telling people about it.
“Considering the way football players are, it really would be a complicated condition to deal with in the locker room.”
Ex-Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi said last year that he would have immediately frozen out any player he thought was gay, but Lippi is far more open.
“I would never exclude anyone from the Nazionale just for their sexual inclinations,” he insisted.
“If someone came to me and confessed they were gay, I would advise them to not let any of that affect them, just concentrate on their profession and feel free to do what they want in their private lives.”
Sinisa Mihajlovic criticised Inter boss Jose Mourinho last month because the Coach had never played football and therefore ‘could not understand’ the sport.
“He has never played, but Vittorio Pozzo was a journalist before becoming a tactician. Others like Arrigo Sacchi have not played professionally.
“Mourinho is a character, a great communicator and speaks five languages. In the big clubs you are less of a teacher and more of a man manager, which makes Mourinho one of the best with his wisdom and intelligence.
“However, having played at the highest level is an advantage, because you know the psychology of a big club, how it feels to win or lose, and that helps. But it is not indispensable.”
The Italy boss is known as a clear-talking figure who hasn’t always enjoyed his Press conferences.
“I thought for a long time that I had a bad rapport with the media, often insulting them, so for a long time I thought that was my fault.
“Instead in later years I realised it’s not a bad thing to face people the way you really are, as it’s impossible to get along with everyone and at the end of the day at least they know who they are dealing with.”
Lippi was dragged into the Calciopoli scandal ahead of the 2006 World Cup, partly because he always refused to condemn the disgraced ex-Juventus director.
“Moggi is a person I worked with for 10 years, he was admired and feared and sought after by everyone. What happened in later years I cannot comment on, as I wasn’t there, but in the years I was at the club I saw absolutely nothing untoward.”
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In fact this article inspired me to open this thread
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