The Italian man who was filmed apparently spitting on his hand and slapping a sports presenter’s bum after a Fiorentina match is a married businessman and has a daughter and claims the incident is ruining his life.

Toscana TV’s Greta Beccaglia was slapped on her behind while interviewing Fiorentina fans after their 2-1 away defeat to Empoli in the Serie A tie on Saturday.

The fixture was also used to raise awareness of the ‘give violence against women the red card’ campaign.

A fan in a green jacket was filmed approaching the presenter from behind before apparently spitting on his hand and slapping her derriere.

Beccaglia angrily responded: “Sorry, you can’t do that, I’m sorry.”

Beccaglia reportedly filed a complaint against the man, later identified by local media as wealthy restaurant owner Andrea Serrani, 45, from the district of Chiaravalle in Milan.

During an interview on the La Zanzara radio show, Serrani explained that he has a wife and daughter and is not the ‘rapist’ he is being depicted as on social media in some quarters of the press.

He is quoted as saying: “I made an idiot of myself, they describe me as a rapist, but I am not anything like that. Did I spit on my hand? I was coughing.

“At home they asked me ‘why did you do it?’, my partner too. They know I am not a bad person. We are currently going through all the known sorrows in the world. Someone works all their life, creates a life, and then this kind of thing happens.”

Serrani said sorry for his actions and added that he would like to apologise to Beccaglia in person.

However, the sports presenter reportedly told Rai News24 in an interview: “If he apologises, that man has done the bare minimum. An apology in these incidents is not enough. Justice must take its course and establish that this kind of shameful gesture is wrong.”

The police investigation of sexual harassment is ongoing.