UDINESE star Lorenzo Lucca caused chaos and enraged his team-mates last night by insisting on taking a penalty over their designated taker.
And despite converting the first-half spot kick, Lucca was IMMEDIATELY hooked by his manager.
The Italian side were taking on Lecce in Serie A.
When they were awarded a penalty shortly after the half hour, a bizarre scene followed.
Captain and designated taker Florian Thauvin was ready to take the spot kick.
But Lucca, 24, refused to give the French World Cup winner the ball.
Several of his team-mates, including former Manchester United and Arsenal forward Alexis Sanchez, angrily pleaded with Lucca to back down.
The striker did not, however, and was even booked during the unusual incident.
When his team-mates finally relented, Lucca made no mistake in converting the penalty.
But his colleagues, still fuming, refused to celebrate with him.
Manager Kosta Runjaic then hooked Lucca off just moments after he converted and replaced him with Iker Bravo.
The forward looked miffed as he exited the pitch.
And after Udinese’s eventual 1-0 win, he could be seen not smiling as the team took a celebratory picture together.
After the match, Runjaic told DAZN: “We have clear hierarchies with penalty kicks.
“I didn’t like the discussion, they were talking for a long time, he made the decision independently and I preferred to take him off the pitch after he took the penalty anyway, which he shot very well.
“It is also not the first time that two players on a team have argued over who gets to take a set-piece. We will definitely talk about this during the week.
“I made this choice because I don’t like those who don’t respect the rules, so I had to take measures. However, this will all be solved in training and we will focus on our next match.”
Lucca, who was capped by Italy for the first time last year, has taken six penalties across his senior career, scoring three and missing three.
Thauvin, meanwhile, has scored 13 spot kicks, missing six.
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