Allegri and Sarri’s assistant Ianni joke after ugly row

Max Allegri and Maurizio Sarri’s assistant manager Marco Ianni got into an ugly row on Saturday, but they joked about that when AC Milan and Lazio met again this evening.

The pair had clashed on the touchline at San Siro on Saturday in Milan’s 1-0 Serie A victory, when arguing ahead of the VAR On-Field Review for a penalty appeal on Strahinja Pavlovic’s potential handling offence.

This was such a vicious row that it ended with Allegri being sent off and Ianni exchanging some harsh words as he left the field.

So there were concerns when the pair met again so soon afterwards in the Coppa Italia Round of 16 at the Stadio Olimpico.

However, when Allegri and Sarri approached each other to shake hands before kick-off this evening, they immediately joked about the incident, and the Milan coach insisted on pointing to and saluting Ianni on the bench.

Ianni has something of a long history of being a vocal presence on the touchline, famously taunting Jose Mourinho when Sarri’s Chelsea met Manchester United in 2018.