Nicolo Zaniolo accused of provoking youth players after match

Former Aston Villa midfielder Nicolo Zaniolo has been accused of provoking Roma’s youth-team players – with two of them reportedly “struck” following a match on Monday.

The alleged incident happened after Fiorentina’s Under-20s beat their Roma counterparts in the Italian Primavera semi-final.

Zaniolo – who joined Fiorentina on loan from Galatasaray in February, having left Roma in 2023 – attended the match.

Roma alleged, external that Zaniolo entered their dressing room after the match and “engaged in provocative behaviour towards some of the Giallorossi youth players”.

“During the confrontation, two players from the Primavera squad were reportedly physically struck,” a club statement added.

“AS Roma cannot but firmly condemn any form of aggressive conduct or behaviour that does not align with the values of sport.”

Zaniolo, responding to the claims in a statement, external released by Fiorentina, said: “At the end of the match I went down to the locker room to congratulate the Fiorentina boys and then I went to the Roma locker room to say hello and congratulate them on the season.

“At a certain point they started insulting me so, at that point, to avoid the situation degenerating, I preferred to leave.”

The 25-year-old did not address Roma’s claim that two of their players were struck.

Zaniolo – who scored the winning goal for Roma in the 2022 Uefa Conference League final – left Roma in 2023 to join Galatasaray, and has since had loan spells at Villa, Atalanta and Fiorentina.