Zago and that post with a revival photo of spitting on Simeone: the controversy reignites, 26 years

The episode is certainly not memorable even if it became part of the setting of a recent derby. 26 years after spitting on Diego Simeone, Antonio Carlos Zago has once again fueled controversy among Roma and Lazio fans. As? The former defender published a shot on Instagram of him posing with a group of fans in Porta Metronia (the neighborhood where Totti was born). And so far nothing strange. In the background of the photo, however, there is the very cloth that depicts the famous fight with Cholo Simeone in the derby of 21 November 1999 nicknamed “The last derby of the millennium”. Under the photo showing the spitting in the face of the current Atletico Madrid coach, here is Zago’s message: “Thank you guys and always go Roma”. The social storm between Roma and Lazio fans was inevitable, as they spared no criticism and insults to the Brazilian.

THE EPISODE

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The crime dates back to 26 years ago when the derby could have been worth a championship. A few minutes before the end of the first half, with Roma leading 4-0, Simeone and Zago came into contact after a foul by the Brazilian. The two come face to face and insult each other. Then Zago decides to spit in his opponent’s face. The gesture is not seen by the referee Tombolini, but is captured by the cameras, becoming material for the TV test as well as a reason to fuel even more tension between the two sets of fans. The former Brazilian defender will get away with a three-match ban with the then Sports Judge Laudi who had recognized a sort of mitigating factor: the spitting was considered a violent gesture and the qualifying rounds should have been four, but Zago – according to Laudi – had been provoked by his opponent.

NO EXCUSES

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The Roma player will never apologize to the Lazio player. Indeed, at the end of the match Zago added: “It must have been a moment of madness. But that’s how I am, I always defend my teammates and Simeone has also shown in the past that he is a bad player. I know I didn’t set the right example for the younger players, but I don’t regret anything because he is unfair.” Except, a few years later, analyzing the incident differently even without apologizing to Simeone: “I made a mistake, it had never happened to me and it won’t happen to me again. I didn’t set a good example.” Even Simeone, at the end of that derby which ended 4-1 for the Giallorossi, had commented on the incident: “You all saw how Zago behaved, but I don’t go on television to cry. For me the thing ended there, what happens on the pitch must stay on the pitch. I’m not a kid, if I have to say something I say it to your face and not through journalists”. Today the episode is relevant again. And Zago, who has since become coach in Brazil, doesn’t seem to show any remorse for what happened.