Arguments with players, chair smashed Goalkeeping coach Bucchi is the arsonist on the FCL bench

He has already quarrelled with a player, smashed a chair and has seen 4 yellows and 2 reds so far. But Switzerland's most emotional goalkeeping coach is said to be totally relaxed off the pitch, coach Mario Frick and former coach Markus Babbel tell blue Sport.

When there's a fire on the FC Luzern touchline, he's usually right in the middle of it: Lorenzo Bucchi, 40-year-old goalkeeping coach, born in Rome. On Saturday, during the 3:2 win at Kybunpark in St. Gallen, he sees red for insulting the referee and provocation (according to the report). He receives two match suspensions and a fine of 400 francs.

Goalkeeping coach Bucchi is sanctioned on the FCL bench. Not for the first time. Since the introduction of yellow and red cards against staff members in 2019, he has already seen red twice and yellow four times - a record for staff members (excluding coaches and assistant coaches).

"That's why the emotions are so high during the game"

"Lorenzo Bucchi: Switzerland's most emotional goalkeeping coach", headlined Blick in October 2020. At the time, Covid reigned and he was sitting in the media stands in empty stadiums. You can regularly hear him shouting and swearing. Once he gets so annoyed that a chair breaks. Unfortunately, this chair was in the wrong place at the wrong time, says Bucchi, explaining his outbursts in Blick. "The game is the best part of our job. You only have these 90 minutes. That's why the emotions are so high during the game."

Bucchi is also in the thick of it when there is a scuffle on the FCL bench in August 2022. He attacks midfielder Samuele Campo because the latter is so annoyed about his substitution that he kicks bottles away. The two brawlers have to be held back so that they don't go for each other's throats.

Bucchi goes for the throat of his teammate François Affolter during a training match at the 2015 training camp in Marbella because he felt Affolter wasn't showing enough commitment. At the time, Bucchi was still FCL's second goalkeeper behind David Zibung.

Babbel: "Bucchi is not such a soft-spoken character"

Bucchi doesn't want to talk at the moment. Others do that for him. Coach Mario Frick raves about him as a guy off the pitch - and he also plays an important role on the bench. Under Frick's predecessors, Bucchi sometimes had to sit in the stands. But Frick wanted him back on the bench. "We need him and his emotionality on the touchline," he says.

Markus Babbel, who was Bucchi and Affolter's coach at FCL at the time, has a similar view. "He's a great guy, very ambitious and collegial. He always demanded a lot from himself and others," Babbel recalls. He always had great respect for Bucchi. "Lorenzo always had a clear opinion. He's a guy with character, not such a soft-spoken character."

According to Babbel, the spat with Affolter was quickly put to bed. "Lorenzo has an Italian temperament. If he notices that someone isn't pulling his weight, he'll grab them." Off the pitch, Bucchi is completely different, everyone says. "Totally relaxed," says Babbel, "a cool guy. He manages the switch between tension and relaxation perfectly".

He has a bachelor's degree in political science

Bucchi, a hotshot? Yes. But much more than that. The emotional goalkeeping coach studied political science and international relations alongside his active career. He has had his bachelor's degree in the bag for a long time. In an interview with "Schweiz am Sonntag" in 2016, he said that he could just as easily be a politician instead of a goalkeeping coach: "I'm very interested in politics and would campaign vehemently against any kind of corruption".

With all vehemence, as he has done for years on the FCL bench. Not this Saturday against Lausanne, where he will serve his second red ban.

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