Francisco Conceiçao confronted the journalist who had directly shown his outburst of anger, before leaving the pitch in the Celta Vigo-Juventus match. Sky correspondent Giovanni Guardalà had simply done his job, explaining that “Chico”, clearly irritated at the moment of substitution, had initially expressed his dissatisfaction towards the bench and the chairs, becoming the protagonist of an “exchange of words” with one of the assistants of the technician Luciano Spalletti. However, judging by the words of the Portuguese, the events had not exactly happened that way. The outburst of anger had occurred, but not because of the decision to substitute him. For this reason, there had been no conflict with the members of the black and white technical staff.
Conceiçao, in fact, decided to immediately confront the situation and avoid distorting the events. “I didn’t fight with anyone from the staff. I gave a little kick to the bench and it’s not true what they said”. When Guardalà tried to ask him further about the alleged clash with the coach’s assistant, the former Porto player was categorical: he had only made eye contact, but without exchanging a word. “So, I didn’t speak to him and he didn’t say anything either, because I didn’t speak to him”. Another issue that needed clarification was his departure to the locker room at the Vigo stadium. The winger stayed there for a few minutes, before quickly returning to the pitch. “I went to the locker room, changed my shirt and came back out. You can see: I stayed inside for 3-4 minutes, went to the toilet and then came out”.
Concerned about how the events might be interpreted, Francisco Conceiçao felt the need to intervene immediately, to clarify that he had not intended to argue with Spalletti's decision. Was it a spontaneous situation, with the approval of the club and the coach himself, or had it happened on the instructions of the latter? This is not known, since it concerns the internal dynamics of the dressing room. What is known is that the Juventus coach had immediately clarified things in his television intervention after the match, also on Sky. Someone from his staff had explained to him that the player had not shown any "discontent" with the substitution, but only disappointment with his performance. Otherwise, the situation would have been the subject of clarification and, at the very least, would have ended with a reprimand.
A typical case of the principle "clear things make friendships last". Indirectly and without making the situation too difficult, Spalletti implied that if there had been open outbursts of anger about leaving the field after 70 minutes of play, things would have been completely different. A way of reminding everyone who runs the locker room. And the Portuguese knows this well, judging by the speed with which he appeared in the interview area to justify his behavior.
