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Napoli boss Rafa Benitez gets one-game ban for cursing Italian football

Napoli coach Rafa Benitez has been given a one-game touchline ban for branding Italian football "s---" at the end of his side's draw with Parma at the weekend.

Benitez was furious that his side had not managed to beat a team who had already been relegated to Serie B. The 2-2 draw at the Stadio Tardini has left the Azzurri three points behind third-placed Lazio, who they meet on the final day of the season, in the race for Italy's third place in next season's Champions League.

There were further clashes involving players and staff of both clubs after the final whistle with Napoli forward Gonzalo Higuain fined €10,000 for "severely insulting the opposition goalkeeper" Antonio Mirante.

Mirante has called a news conference on Wednesday when he will explain his version of the events which have also led to Benitez being banned from Napoli's clash with Cesena next Monday night.

A disciplinary statement published by the Lega Serie A on Tuesday said that the Spanish coach "at the end of the match, while leaving the playing field, declared at the top of his voice 'this is s--- Italian football for you;' an infraction which was picked up by match delegates."

Napoli issued their own statement on Sunday night, denying that their anger at the final whistle had anything to do with suggestions that they had expected Parma to let them win the game easily.

"Referring to the match Parma-Napoli, the Azzurri club would like to point out that all complaints arisen at the end of the game were addressed exclusively to a few moments aimed at wasting time," read the statement on their website. "None of these complaints was related to Parma's commitment that was definitely praiseworthy."

Benitez will be on the bench for Napoli's Europa League semifinal second leg at Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk on Thursday with his ban only applying domestically. The Azzurri go into that game needing to score at least one goal to progress after drawing the first leg 1-1 at their own Stadio San Paolo.

Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis is under investigation by UEFA for comments he made after that game, in which he accused European football's governing body of intentionally disadvantaging his team after Dnipro's equalising goal should have been ruled out for offside.