Paolo Di Canio was notorious for some high-profile outbursts as a player and a manager, and it appears that trait remains in his guise as a TV pundit.
The West Ham and Lazio legend is now a regular pundit for Sky Sports Italia but took his analysis to a bizarre new level on Wednesday night.
During the show’s broadcast of the Champions League quarter-final ties between Arsenal versus Sporting and Bayern Munich against Real Madrid, the 57-year-old inexplicably headbutted his desk three times.
The cause of his frustration came after being presenter Federica Masolin asked Di Canio when Italian football would reach the Premier League’s level.
This prompted Di Canio to sarcastically reply: ‘I’ve been good so far, and now you want to provoke me. You want to make me sad!’
Di Canio’s reaction to headbutting the desk was done in a light-hearted manner but it came with a consequence as he cut his head open with the force.
Upon realising his injury, it caused humour among Masolin and the production team – with Di Canio himself raising a smile.
Fabio Capello was working alongside Di Canio and he was the first on hand to tend to his injury, with the former England and Roma manager giving him a tissue to wipe away the blood.
It’s been a Champions League campaign to forget for Italian teams. Reigning Serie A champions Napoli finished in the bottom of the 32-team league phase, while Inter Milan and Juventus were knocked out of the play-off stages.
Only Atalanta made it to the last-16 but they were subsequently thrashed 10-2 on aggregate by Bayern.
Meanwhile, the Premier League is represented in the semi-finals by Arsenal and saw all six of its sides reach the last-16 stages before its earliest eliminations.
Di Canio’s notoriety as a player includes shoving referee Paul Alcock to the floor during his time at Sheffield Wednesday in September 1998 after being sent off for scuffling with Arsenal defender Martin Keown, who was also shown a red card.
The Italian was subsequently banned for 11 games and fined £10,000.
Reflecting on that incident last year, Di Canio said: ‘I don’t know why I put my hands on him…but I thought at the time, if I had pushed my eight-year-old daughter, she couldn’t have fallen down like that!’
He joined West Ham United in January 1999 and became a club legend there – scoring 51 goals in 141 games for the club.
