An Italian youth soccer coach was fired from his club after he called 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg a “whore” who “can take a pounding” in a Facebook comment.

“This whore! A 16-year-old can take a pounding, she’s at the right age!” Tommaso Casalini, a former assistant Coach of Grosseto’s Giovanissimi A team, wrote in a post earlier this week. Grosseto immediately removed Casalini as a coach saying in a statement that the trainer was fired for “not acting in line with the club, who focus on moral values ​​even more than technical values​," according to Football-Italia.

Following his removal, Casalini issued an extended apology to regional sports website Grosseto Sport, where he acknowledged the fact that his behavior was not appropriate, especially since he did not realize he was attacking a minor.

“I’d like to publicly apologize to everyone, starting with Greta Thunberg, for the post I wrote on Facebook last week. It was an outburst written in a moment of anger against the young Swedish activist with absolutely the wrong language and content I regret. I never thought or could never have really thought about certain things, especially a minor," he said.

He added: "However when you make a mistake then it’s only right that you take responsibility for your mistakes. Therefore I willingly accept Grosseto’s decision to remove me from my role as Assistant Coach of the Giovanissimi A, and I apologize to the club for the obvious embarrassment caused by my gesture.”

After Thunberg's riveting speech at the United Nations Climate Action Summit last month, the teen has had to face criticism from conservative leaders and religious figures. On September 25, she took on her haters, accusing them of distracting people from the environmental crisis plaguing the world today.

"The haters are as active as ever — going after me, my looks, my clothes, my behavior, and my differences. They come up with every thinkable lie and conspiracy theory," she wrote in a string of tweets. "It seems they will cross every possible line to avert the focus since they are so desperate not to talk about the climate and ecological crisis. Being different is not an illness and the current, best available science is not opinions — it's facts."

She added: "I honestly don't understand why adults would choose to spend their time mocking and threatening teenagers and children for promoting science when they could do something good instead."

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