Fines, bans for Juve, Roma, Fiorentina

Italian football authorities have reacted sharply to an eventful week of Serie A action, which included indiscipline and fan misbehaviour. League leaders Juventus were fined 25,000 euros ($34,000) after fans displayed two banners at the derby with Torino taunting the visiting fans over the 1949 air disaster which killed almost the entire squad of the legendary "Il Grande Torino". The crash killed 18 players, club officials, journalists accompanying the team and the entire crew when the plane in which they were flying crashed into the Superga hill overlooking the city in thick fog. Title challengers Roma were slapped with a 50,000 euro ($68,000) fine after fans tried to break down a gate at the Olympic Stadium prior to the 3-0 win over Sampdoria, and because flares were fired at opposition supporters. Fiorentina, meanwhile, saw midfielder Borja Valero and coach Vincenzo Montella handed four and one-game bans respectively for their roles in a late fracas which marred a 2-2 draw away to Parma on Monday. Valero was handed the lengthy ban after an altercation with Parma's Gianni Munari -- both of whom were sent off in the fourth minute of added-on time -- before then arguing with the referee. A statement by www.legaseriea.it said Valero's harsher punishment was because he "repeatedly shoved an opposition player and placed his hands on the referee's shoulder while being sent off". Montella's punishment was issued after he "entered a room at the end of the game and made insulting remarks to a match official". It will see Montella absent from the touchlines for Fiorentina's next game at home to Lazio this weekend although Fiorentina have appealed both bans. Roma, meanwhile, saw an appeal against a previous sanction rejected by Italy's highest sports arbitration court on Tuesday. With both ends of the Olympic Stadium already closed to fans for this weekend's visit of Inter, following a two-game partial stadium ban issued a fortnight ago, officials last week widened the ban to include adjacent sections of seating next to the North and South "Curve". Roma appealed that decision, handed down after fans were charged with "territorial discrimination" for singing anti-Napoli songs, but it was rejected. It means only the east and west stands of the Olympic Stadium will be open to fans for this weekend's clash, leaving large swathes of the stadium empty. Source: AFP