Italy-Serbia called off following crowd trouble

The Italy-Serbia Euro 2012 Group C clash here on Tuesday was called off following crowd trouble, an Italian official said.

Serb fans had thrown flares and bangers onto the pitch and at rival Italy fans.

The referee stopped the encounter just six minutes in after a flare appeared to hit Italy goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano.

The kick-off for the highly-charged match had earlier been delayed by more than 30 minutes due to crowd trouble as police struggled to maintain order at the Marassi stadium.

Officials took almost an hour to formally call off the game following protracted meetings between UEFA, the Italy and Serbia Football Associations and referee Craig Thomson from Scotland.

A meeting was first held on the pitch, after which both sets of players left the field, Italy’s players applauding their fans before moving off.

There had been problems before the game in the centre of town while Serbia’s first choice goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic had been attacked by his own fans.

Viviano said it wasn’t safe for him to stand in goal at the end where the Serbian fans were.

“It was impossible to play in that goal, I would have had to keep turning around to avoid the flares,” he said.

“Honestly, I don’t like the idea of getting hit in the head by a flare.”

Italy coach Cesare Prandelli told reporters: “I’ve never seen anything like this before.

“What can I say, there’s great disappointment and bitterness, especially for the many children who were enthusiastically hoping for a great game.

“We couldn’t predict this situation, it’s very disappointing.

“It seemed organised, listening to the Serbian players it turns out their team coach was attacked.

“Before the game the Serbian goalkeeper (Stojkovic) was in our dressing room and wasn’t just afraid to play he was also afraid for his return home, he didn’t understand anything.

“The Serbian players felt these fans were doing everything they could to stop the match being played.”

Stojkovic was taken to hospital for tests following the attack in which a flare was thrown onto the team bus with him in it.

He was not said to be badly hurt, though.

He used to play for Red Star Belgrade but now plays for Patizan Belgarde, angering hardcore Red Star fans.

Security chief Roberto Massucci explained that the Italians had no reason to suspect such trouble.

“As before every game we had contact with the police from the other country and we had no information that suggested there would be people of such a high risk,” he said.

“There was already a problem with the behaviour of certain people in the city centre in the afternoon but we preferred to let them go to the stadium where it would be easier to control them.

“However, as soon as they entered the stadium they tried attacking people.” Before kick-off, Serb fans had already thrown flares and bangers at Italy supporters and onto the pitch while three fans climbed onto a security screen and initially refused to get down.

The start was delayed 35 minutes as when players came out onto the pitch for the national anthems there were police, firemen and stewards marshalling the area around the away fans.

Riot police were called for and stationed between Italy and Serbia fans while the players were sent back to the changing rooms.

Eventually the players came back out to keep warm and after a while the Serbians went over to the away stand to ask fans to calm down.

That seemed to do the trick as soon after the national anthems were played and Thomson blew for kick off.

Earlier in the day Serb fans had attacked a police car with police moving in to restore order.

After the game rival Serb and Italian fans threw bottles and flares at each other while police reinforcements were called from Milan and Turin to help quell the trouble.