PRESS CONFERENCE

Farioli: 'We have a duty to send a message of peace'

Francesco Farioli was asked about Youcef Atal's suspension at the start of his press conference on Thursday: "I think the club statement was very very clear," the coach said. "I want to add something, as a human being and father, because the truth is that what we're seeing right now is a humantarian catastrophe, which doesn't have a flag, which doesn't have a religion. It's above everything. I think that we, as athletes, as people who have a platform to speak to many others, we have a duty to send a strong message, a message of peace. The hope is that this humanitarian catastrophe ends as quickly as possible."

Asked about how the dressing room reacted, the Italian tactician replied: "Youcef is a player that we all love. He's an important player, a guy who we value. But I say again: as an athlete, we have a number of rights, but also obligations. The club statement was very clear. There's a suspension, there is a judicial investigation underway. That goes beyond the sporting aspect of things."