Soccer-Fiorentina coach in bizarre sending-off

MILAN, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Fiorentina coach Paulo Sousa was involved in one of the oddest dismissals of the season on Sunday when he was sent off against Genoa for intercepting the ball while it was still in play. Sousa, standing on the touchline, saw that a Fiorentina clearance was going straight into touch, stopped the ball with his foot and handed it to a Genoa player to take a throw-in. But television replays clearly showed that the ball was still in play when Sousa stopped it and the bemused Portuguese was ordered from the touchline. "I anticipated everyone including myself. There are rules, but it was an honest mistake," he told reporters. "I always try to be as well-behaved as possible, I try to help the referees but sometimes you are penalised for certain behaviour. "At the end of the game, we just have to respect the referees even when they make mistakes. We hope that they improve with every game, just as we try to improve with every game." Fiorentina have won only one of their last four games and Sunday's 0-0 draw left them third in Serie A, eight points behind leaders Napoli. "My state of mind is positive because football is my life and my passion," added the Portuguese, who is in his first season at Fiorentina. "These things happen in football, we must just continue working so we can be competitive and do ourselves justice." (Writing by Brian Homewood in Berne; editing by Justin Palmer)