10 hours Ago By Rob Swan
There were wild scenes in Serie A on Friday night as Udinese's Lorenzo Lucca disobeyed orders by taking a penalty, much to the frustration of his teammates and manager. Despite scoring the 32nd-minute spot-kick, the 24-year-old was immediately substituted. Florian Thauvin was the Udinese player assigned to take the penalty, but Lucca took matters into his own hands.
His teammates unsuccessfully tried to stop him taking the penalty. Lucca stepped up and smashed the ball past Leece goalkeeper Wladimiro Falcone. However, none of his teammates celebrated the goal with him.
Udinese boss Kosta Runjaic then dragged Lucca off, replacing him with Spanish forward Iker Bravo. Runjaic explained after the match that Lucca’s decision to ignore internal ‘hierarchies’ was the reason behind his withdrawal. Kosta Runjaic Explains Why Lucca Was Substituted "We have clear hierarchies with penalty kicks,” Runjaic explained, reported via Football Italia.
“I didn’t like the discussion, they were talking for a long time, he made the decision independently and I preferred to take him off the pitch after he took the penalty anyway, which he shot very well. “It is also not the first time that two players on a team have argued over who gets to take a set-piece. We will definitely talk about this during the week.
“I made this choice because I don’t like those who don’t respect the rules, so I had to take measures. However, this will all be solved in training and we will focus on our next match.” Footage of the Incident Footage of the incident, which has since gone viral on social media, shows several of Lucca’s teammates - including former Arsenal and Manchester United winger Alexis Sanchez - to step away from the ball.
However, Lucca was clearly in no mood to listen. Watch the footage below: Udinese won the match 1-0 - thanks to Lucca’s controversial first-half goal - and the team’s players posed for a celebratory photo after the match at Leece’s Stadio Via del mare. However, Lucca could be seen in the background, looking rather sheepish, while the rest of his teammates had wide smiles on their faces.
Udinese’s win means they remain 10th in the Serie A table. It remains to be seen what punishment - if any - awaits Lucca for his actions..
