UEFA await Italy-Serbia riots report

13 October 2010 10:30

UEFA are waiting for their match delegate's report before acting following the riots which forced the abandonment of Italy's game against Serbia after only six minutes.

After pre-match clashes between travelling fans and Italian police, the game on Tuesday night was delayed by 35 minutes due to crowd disturbances after Serbian fans threw flares in the direction of the north stand where Italian supporters were seated, and on to the pitch.

When the game finally started, more flares and fireworks were thrown onto the pitch forcing Scottish referee Craig Thomson to stop the match.

A statement from UEFA read: "UEFA now awaits the receipt of the official UEFA delegate's match report before deciding whether to open a disciplinary case."

Serbia are in Northern Ireland's Euro 2012 qualifying group and are due to travel to Belfast next September, before which Nigel Worthington's team face a trip to Belgrade in March.

Serbian Football Association president Tomislav Karadzic admitted his shame and revealed the problems at the Luigi Ferraris stadium did not come as a surprise.

"We had indications that this would happen," he told Belgrade's B92 television. "These fans are just the executors, it was planned in Belgrade.

"This has brought embarrassment and shame on our country. We had problems during training, before the match, and now this... the state must react."

Italian Football Federation security chief Roberto Massucci blamed Serbian authorities for allowing unruly fans to travel, saying: "Fans that are so dangerous should not have arrived in Genoa. They should have been stopped by the Serbian officials.

"We were aware that this game had a risk factor but a behaviour of such aggressiveness we had not experienced for some time. From the traditional channels of communication with the Serbian police, we had not been given any signs of the degree of danger of these fans."

Source: PA