Milan don't want Inter banned


MilanMilan director Umberto Gandini admits he does not want city rivals Internazionale banned from European competition.

Inter fans brought shame on football on Tuesday evening when they forced the abandonment of the UEFA Champions League quarter final, second leg with Milan.

The Rossoneri were leading 1-0 on the night, and 3-0 on aggregate, when Inter supporters started throwing flares onto the pitch after Esteban Cambiasso had a goal disallowed.

The match briefly restarted before referee Markus Merk deemed it was not safe for the players to stay on the pitch.

Milan keeper Dida was struck on the shoulder by a flare, with Uefa's disciplinary commission due to meet on Friday to discuss Inter's fate.

But, while accepting Inter need to be punished, Gandini does not wish to see his club's fierce adversaries thrown out of European competition.

"Absolutely not," replied Gandini to Sky Sports News when asked if he wanted to see Inter banned.

"It is too bad what happened, too bad for Milan as a city, not only for Inter fans but Milan football fans in general, and Italian football in general.

"It was a very ugly night for football.
"I think I would not be happy at all with whatever result will come as it will be difficult to clean the image of the Milan stadium and the Milan supporters as a city in general terms.

"I think there is a penalty to be deserved. Inter people know they deserve a penalty and I think they will be obliged to play behind closed doors for a few matches."

Gandini also reported that Brazilian shot-stopper Dida was not seriously injured by the flare thrown from the crowd.

He added: "He went under exams last night after the match. He just had a bruised shoulder and it would be a day-to-day question of pain. There is no major injury at all."

The Milan director also admitted he was surprised at the level of violence at San Siro as such disgraceful scenes have not tarnished previous derbies between the teams.

"It was honestly unexpected and especially because the history of the matches between the two city rivals has been excellent from the crowd perspective," continued Gandini.

"There have been no major incidents. There is a very strong friendship between the supporters, they go to the stadium and leave the stadium together.

"Last night something must have been planned to damage Inter. It is something too big to have erupted just in a moment of foolishness."

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Nothing like sweeping your city's dirt under the carpet.....

Milan madness scars Italian game


The shocking scenes at Milan's San Siro stadium on Tuesday may have surprised many British football fans.

But the relaxed response to the violence of the Inter crowd, many of whom cheered when Milan goalkeeper Dida was hit by a flare, was indicative of an on-going problem in Italian football.

Coming after a weekend in which 85 policemen were injured and scores of fans were arrested after outbreaks of violence at five different Italian matches only highlighted the problem.

"This sort of thing happens quite often in Italy," Italian football expert James Richardson told BBC Five Live.

"It is not really that extraordinary to see stuff thrown onto the pitch in Italian games.

"A few years ago Inter fans actually tried to launch a burning moped from the same area of the San Siro as last night's trouble.


"This isn't an isolated incident. The hard-core support are very adept at getting flares and offensive banners into stadiums.

"Once they are in, the 'curvas' - the ends of the stadium where the hard-core support go - are pretty much no-go areas.

"There is no real police presence; they don't really want to go into these areas. They fear that going in will be seen as invading their territory and provoke further trouble.

"It has been a problem for so long now that people in the 'curvas' do largely what they want and get away with it."

Television monitoring of trouble spots inside grounds over the past two years has helped curb the problem to a degree, according to Richardson, with some arrests made.

"But they have never come up with an effective solution," he added.

"Now that this has happened under a Uefa banner, rather than in a domestic match, and Uefa will really come down hard on them, it will possibly force the Italian authorities to take a serious look at this."

Inter are likely to face heavy sanctions from Uefa for this la-*test*-('") incident of misbehaviour from their fans.

In February 2001 they were ordered to play two European games away from the San Siro after violent pro-*test*-('")s following a Uefa Cup defeat by Spanish club Alaves.

But in May that season an Inter fan went on to the pitch and accosted Milan defender Alessandro Costacurta during a record 6-0 defeat by their city rivals.

There were also clashes after the game, with disgruntled fans hurling glass bottles at police, who used tear-gas to quell the disturbance.

The fans later regrouped and launched another attack on police, who were separating Inter supporters from Milan fans.

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RATHER MAKES A MOCKERY OF GANDINI'S ASSERTION IN THE ABOVE POST THAT: ""There have been no major incidents. There is a very strong friendship between the supporters, they go to the stadium and leave the stadium together."

hmm...no doubt in police vans and ambulances!!

Kick em out....send a msg to the rest of football. Lets not forget after Heysel it was not just Liverpool who were banned from Europe, It was all English clubs

Ban the Italians and give one automatic qualification place for the champions of Finland!!!

AS Roma done it now it is Inter Milan, who's next perhap Juventus next season?

We know what Juventus fans like seriously!!!

I agree with you, DJ

6 games behind closed doors and a fine!!
What kind of lesson does that preach??
As long as your not a British team you can cause as much trouble as you like cos we'll only hit you in the pocket.