Serbian players are afraid, says Italy coach

Italy coach Cesare Prandelli said Serbia's players are afraid to return home following the hooligan violence that caused Tuesday night's Euro 2012 qualifier to be aborted.

The match in Genoa lasted only six minutes before the referee ended proceedings when flares were thrown by Serbian fans onto the pitch and at Italian supporters.

It was just part of a day and night of violence orchestrated by Serbian 'ultras'.

Some in the Italian press have accused Serbia's players, including captain and Inter Milan midfielder Dejan Stankovic, of inciting the hooligans with nationalistic gestures, but Prandelli sprang to their defence.

"The Serbian players are between a rock and a hard place, they have homes and families and need to go home, they're afraid," he said on Wednesday.

"But football shouldn't be afraid of ultras, the path is prevention.

"We asked our opponents to go to their fans to try to calm the hooligans down.

"I don't know what signs they made but they were clearly afraid."

And Prandelli, who used to play for Juventus, alluded to a tragedy he experienced as a player in 1985.

Prandelli was a substitute during the European Cup final between Juventus and Liverpool at Heysel when 39 people died after a wall collapsed when Italian fans tried to flee Liverpool thugs who had breached a fence to try to attack them.

"It was a night of torment. I thought again and again about how the violence of a few can hold a match and a whole city in its grip," he said.

"We were ready and wanted to play Serbia, we warmed up as normal and then when we went back into the changing rooms we tried to find out how long the pause would last so we could avoid physical problems.

"We always thought about playing, we wanted to go onto the pitch.

"When I saw that the Serbian ultras were trying to break through a screen separating them from the Italian fans I was really scared.

"I saw many people with children turning on their heels. When it's like that anything can happen.

"It doesn't take much for it to transform into a tragedy."

Only six minutes of the qualifier were played before Italy goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano was sent running for cover as a flare thrown from Serbia fans appeared to hit him.

Other flares and bangers were thrown onto the pitch and at rival Italy fans while some Serb hooligans tried to attack Italy supporters.

Following lengthy discussions between Uefa, Italian and Serbian delegates, referee Craig Thomson from Scotland called off the game, leaving Serbian media with red faces.

Serbian FA president Tomislav Karadzic said the government must act to stamp out such incidents in the future.

"It's scandalous, those who organised these incidents are in Belgrade," he said. "It's an attack against the state and the state must resolve this problem."

The violence continued as Serbia players left their team hotel. First choice goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic was attacked by his own fans who threw a flare onto the team bus.

He was taken to hospital, although he did not suffer serious injury, and later sheltered inside the Italy changing room while refusing to play.

Fourteen people were later hospitalised after Serbian fans clashed with Italian police following the aborted match.

The most seriously injured was a member of Italy's paramilitary caribinieri, who was rushed to hospital after after a banger exploded in his face. A Serbian fan also suffered facial injuries.

After the game Italian police kept those Serbian fans they considered to be the troublemakers hemmed into a gated parking area, with the intention of releasing them to coaches in small groups.

The clashes started when some of the fans managed to break out and police in riot gear moved in try to push them back inside the barriers.

The fans who caused the trouble at the match were linked to the two rival Serbian teams, Red Star Belgrade and Partizan Belgrade, ANSA reported, citing witnesses at the scene.

Hardcore Genoa and Sampdoria fans, the Italian city's two teams, reportedly came to the scene to help the police but were persuaded to leave.

By 1:00 am (1100 GMT), coaches carrying the Serbian supporters had begun to leave the city.