Controversial Lazio star Paolo Di Canio has been banned for one match after performing a Nazi salute to fans for the second week in succession.
The 39-year-old former Italian international was punished after making the gesture while he was substituted in his team’s 1-1 draw against Juventus at the Olympic Stadium in Rome on Saturday.
Lazio were also fined €8 000, the same amount they were ordered to pay last weekend for allowing their supporters to brandish neo-Nazi symbols during the Serie A match against Livorno.
Di Canio also made a Nazi salute at Livorno fans in that game but managed to escape censure.
Saturday’s incident was the third time this year that Di Canio had made the fascist gesture.
In March he was fined €10 000 for giving a Nazi salute at the end of the Rome derby two months earlier.
But he has cut a mercurial figure in a colourful career.
In 2001, he was awarded a fair-play award by Fifa for refusing to score an easy goal after the opposing goalkeeper suffered an injury.
Three years earlier, however, he served an 11-match ban for pushing over a referee during an English league game. – Sapa-AFP