The sporting director of Bari, Ciro Polito, Atalanta’s third goalkeeper from 2011 to 2014, he was attacked on Sunday 5 May by some red and white fans while he was with his wife in a service station in Occhiobello (Rovigo) returning from Veneto after the draw with Cittadella which complicates the Apulian team’s road to salvation. The police are investigating the matter. The video surveillance footage is also being examined by investigators.
Also on Sunday, there were heated tones among fans, managers and players also at Bergamo airport, upon the team’s return, with a spat between a historic former Ultras boss and a member of the management staff. The video of the incident went viral on social media. Polito was the only one of the Bari group to return by car, while the rest of the team returned to Bari by plane. Bari will play their last match of the season at San Nicola on Friday evening against Brescia: the victory against the Lombards is the only chance to avoid direct relegation and hope for the play outs.
The club: closeness and solidarity
Bari “expresses closeness and solidarity to sporting director Ciro Polito, victim yesterday evening of a real attack which took place, by unknown persons, after the Cittadella-Bari match”. «The red and white manager, while he was parked in a motorway service station on the way back from the Venetian city – writes Luigi De Laurentiis’ club – was reached and attacked, verbally and physically, by a group of unknown persons who immediately afterwards disappeared. . The competent authorities that intervened immediately started the procedures to identify the responsible parties.” «The red and white club – we read again – strongly condemns what happened at the hands of “cowards” who have nothing to do with Bari fans and sport. While waiting for justice to take its course, when reason gives way to violence we have already lost everyone.”
