Padua, 15 October 2024 – The footballer Michael Liguori took the field, controversy in Padua for letting the 25-year-old play sentenced to three years and four months of imprisonment for sexual violence.
“It was a missed opportunity by Calcio Padova to send a strong message against violence against women: one wrong to choose silence. Solidarity with the two girls”, commented the regional councilor Elena Ostanel (The Veneto we want).
The coach’s defense
Originally from Alba Adriatica (Teramo), the Padova Calcio player was found guilty, together with a friend, for sexual abuse against two minor girls – it was 2018 and at the time of the events the victims had 14 and 15 years old – meet at the station.
After the sentence of the Teramo court, the athlete was duly summoned for the Serie C match against Giana Erminio. For the technician Matteo Andreoletti “it would have been nice if he had scored”. Also on Liguori’s side are the Padova Calcio fans.
Ostanel: “Football too chauvinist”
“Football – he added – is a world I know because I had the opportunity to frequent it several years ago former football referee male. I believe that it is not enough to take the field once a year with a red mark on your face if you do not then act from within to change its face, again too chauvinist”.
“Silence – he observed – is not my thing and for this reason I express all of mine solidarity with the two girls who courageously denounced: we cannot afford to remain silent and turn the other way because even the words we spend against all violence can help to counter it. Politics must do it, the world of sport can do it, especially if called into question directly.”
