Garcia: 'I left the violin in Italy'

By Football Italia staff

Former Roma coach Rudi Garcia has claimed he “left” his famous violin in Italy ahead of Olympique Lyonnais' clash with Juventus in the Champions League.

The French tactician has returned to Ligue 1 after his spell in the Italian capital and he is eager to exploit his knowledge about Juventus when Lyon take on the Old Lady in a two-legged round of 16 in the prestigious tournament.

Garcia was famously sent off for dissent during a 3-2 defeat to the Bianconeri whilst at Roma after making a sarcastic violin gesture towards the Juve players, who he accused of whining during the intense at the then Juventus Stadium.

“The violin remained in the closet when I left Italy,” he told the Corriere dello Sport. “It was a gesture that came to me instinctively. I wanted to defend my team from what I thought was wrong.

“But these things remain on the pitch.”

He finished second with Roma in both 2013-14 and 2014-15 but he doesn’t want to dwell on the possible outcome if VAR was a part of Serie A back then.

Both times, the Giallorossi ended 17 points behind Juventus in the League and Garcia said he “never” felt the Old Lady were “favoured” by the match officials.

“Every era makes their own history. As they say in France, with ‘ifs’ you can put Paris in a bottle,” he added. “I never had the perception that Juventus were favoured by the referees.

“But with VAR, the decisions are more correct. One thing that we coach ask to the referees, is to not be satisfied with the silent check. They should go to review all the contested episodes instead of waiting in the middle of the field for confirmation, otherwise the real referee will be the VAR.”

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