Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri has spoken again about his spat with Roberto Mancini in a recent Coppa Italia tie, saying he used the wrong wording in the heat of the moment.
Sarri's anti-gay slur earned him a two-game Coppa Italia ban, in addition to a fine.
Inter and Mancini have already accepted an apology for the remarks, but Sarri has now told Chi magazine that the words that came out of his mouth were not exactly what he was intending to say.
"I wanted to poke fun at the way he is always dressed so elegantly on the side of the pitch as if he's going to an official function," said Sarri, who wears a tracksuit during his side's games. "I wanted to call him a 'poser,' not that thing about sex!"
Sarri stressed that he is not at all anti-gay, and would welcome a gay footballer to Napoli, and would want them to be open about it.
"I just think of my best friend who was gay -- he was a Florentine antique seller who died way too young, and I still miss him a lot," Sarri added.
"He would be outraged to hear me accused of homophobia. There have been, there are and there will be gay people in football. I hope that this whole issue, which started badly but ended well, will help them to come out.
"At least at Napoli they wouldn't have any problems. The compactness of our group would never be endangered by the players' private lives."