Italy-Serbia suspended following crowd trouble

Tuesday’s Italy-Serbia Euro 2012 Group C qualifier was suspended following crowd trouble in Genoa.

The referee stopped the encounter just six minutes in after Serbian fans threw flares onto the pitch, one of which appeared to hit Italian keeper 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.

No official announcement was made about the match being cancelled but the players left the pitch and most fans left the stadium.

Italy’s players had applauded their fans before moving off.

Following the flares being thrown onto the pitch, UEFA, Italy and Serbia officials and players had held a meeting on the pitch before deciding to leave.

However, even 45 minutes later the referee, Scotland’s Craig Thomson, had yet to officially call off the game.

Italy coach Cesare Prandelli had no doubts, though, telling reporters: “We’re not playing, I’ve never seen anything like this beofre.”

UEFA delegates were still discussing the issue, though.

Before kick-off Serb fans threw 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 players finally came out onto the pitch for the national anthems but with police, firemen and stewards marshalling the area around the away fans, the start was postponed and the players sent back to the changing rooms.

Riot police were called for and stationed between Italy and Serbia fans.

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.