Italian investigations into pressures against the Lazio president and Flick's statements regarding Yamal

Barcelona coach Hansi Flick said that Lamine Yamal, the Catalan team's star, deserves to win the Ballon d'Or, adding that he hopes the uproar over determining the identity of the winner of the World Player of the Year award will end.

Yamal (19 years old) caused a stir about his opinion of the nominees for the prestigious award, during an interview with the Movistar Plus channel. Yamal, who won the local league and Super Cup titles with Barcelona and the World Cup with the Spanish national team, indicated that he sees himself and Kylian Mbappe, the Real Madrid star, as the closest to winning the award, adding that his titles give him an advantage to win this award, which will be presented at a ceremony that will be held in London next month.

Flick said in a press conference on Tuesday, before facing Racing Santander in the Spanish League on Wednesday evening: “Choosing the best player in the world is a difficult question to answer. I can only talk about Yamal, and I will not talk about Mbappe.” The German coach added: “Lamine performs wonderfully on the field, and expresses his opinion clearly and confidently. I would have preferred him not to speak in this way, but he is frank, and I will support him.” He added in statements reported by the British news agency (BA Media): “I agree with him that he deserves to win the award after winning two titles with Barcelona and the World Cup with Spain, and there are many wonderful players, and I hope this controversy will end.” He continued: “I also hope that this does not affect the players’ concentration. Awards and titles will come at the appropriate time, and we must work with focus and seriousness, and then the results will come one after the other.” Flick also said: “Winning the Ballon d’Or or any other award does not matter. Rather, what is more important is the team’s achievements.”

Barcelona achieved the full mark by winning all six of its matches this season, including a landslide victory over Dutch Feyenoord, 5-1, at the start of its Champions League campaign. Flick warned his players not to underestimate the confrontation with Racing Santander. The German coach said: “We only think about winning every match, and our current focus is on Wednesday’s match. We will play among our fans against a distinguished team, and it will not be an easy confrontation. So we must perform with high concentration.”

On Tuesday morning, the Italian authorities began inspections as part of an investigation conducted by the Public Prosecution regarding alleged pressure exerted on Claudio Lotito, president of the Lazio club. With the aim of pushing him to sell the club, amid suspicions of the existence of a coordinated network that used social media platforms, newspaper articles, and relationships with figures in the banking sector to launch a campaign against him and influence the value of the club’s shares listed on the stock exchange.

According to the Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport, the search warrant issued by the prosecution included the names of Mauro Masi, president of Banca del Fuccino, and Francesco Maiolini, CEO of the bank itself, along with Luigi Bisignani, a former journalist and well-known mediator in Italian circles, while investigators seek to determine whether there was an “operations room” that managed interconnected movements against Lotito.

The investigation hypothesis stems from suspicion of publishing news that investigators believe to be untrue, and the purpose of which, according to the prosecution, was twofold. The first: negatively affecting the value of Lazio’s shares, as a company listed on the stock exchange, and the second: increasing the pressure on Lotito to the point of pushing him to give up his controlling stake in the club. The indictment stated that Massi, Maiolini and Bisignani “worked in conjunction with each other and with other parties, some of whom are still being identified,” and contributed to the dissemination of information via social media platforms and various publications talking about the imminent sale of Lazio, and the economic conditions of companies linked to Lotito, as well as allegations that the club president deliberately wanted the team to be relegated to the second division in order to benefit from what is known as the “financial umbrella” worth 35 million euros.

In the search warrant, prosecutors in the “Anti-Mafia Directorate” spoke of the existence of a “broader and unified plan,” which was suspected of aiming, on the one hand, at influencing Lazio’s stock on the stock exchange, and on the other hand, “pushing and forcing the majority shareholder to sell the package of shares that gives him control over the club.” Activity on social media platforms and articles published in the media represent one of the main focuses of the investigation, as the investigations include content published by the electronic magazine “Milenovichento,” which investigators believe contributed to directing protests by a segment of Lazio fans against the Lotito administration. According to investigations, examinations of devices confiscated in previous inspections showed indicators that led investigators to suspect that some of the distortion and publishing activities on social media platforms had received funding from Maiolini.

Articles later appeared in the newspaper “Il Tiempo” adopting the same path, including an article published on May 31, 2026 under the title: “A stadium without fans... Lotito like Nero? If the Lazio world is burning. The article, according to the investigation documents, included information about an alleged offer worth 450 million euros made by JP Morgan to buy Lazio. It also talked about the possibility of Lotito seeking the help of figures from the financial sector to start a new phase in the management of the club, and specifically mentioned “Massi and Maiolini from Banca del Fuccino.”

The interconnection between the people involved is another focus of the investigations. It included a memorandum; Prepared by members of the Italian Military Police and deposited on July 21, 2026, it refers to the participation of Bisignani, Maiolini and Massi in public mass protests against the Lotito administration, a participation that investigators described in the documents as “naturally legitimate.” Investigators also monitored a series of phone calls between Maiolini and Bisignani over the past two years, in addition to communications between Massi and Bisignani, with a special focus on the calls that took place between Bisignani and Maiolini in conjunction with the preparation and publication of a number of articles in the newspaper “Il Tempo.” The documents refer in particular to communications that took place on May 31, June 1, and June 11, 2026, before the publication on June 12 of an article that investigators considered important because of its close timing to materials published by “Milenovichento” on June 9 and 10. These articles bore titles including: “The last days of the Lotito era!” And “We have a daddy!” Rather, two...”, and it in turn included information about the imminent sale of the club, which is the news that has become part of the process that the prosecution is working to determine its source, the method of its spread, and the extent of the various parties’ connection to it.

Investigators are currently seeking to reconstruct the network of relationships between published articles, activity on social media platforms, alleged financing, and telephone communications. To determine whether the facts, which may appear separate on the face of it, are part of a single strategy aimed at putting pressure on Lotito, in parallel with influencing the market value of Lazio shares. The new inspections constitute an additional stage of the investigation, while future examinations, including analysis of the materials and devices that were seized, will determine whether the prosecution’s hypotheses will find support from evidence, or whether the final results will lead to reducing the scope of the accusations currently presented.