Italian supporters could face a travel ban on away matches played by the national football team after an altercation between fans of the two teams on Sofia's Vassil Levski national stadium at the Bulgaria-Italy world cup qualifying match on October 11.
A group of Italian hard-core ultras fans threw bottles at Bulgarian supporters, made fascist salutes and torched the Bulgarian flag on the terraces of stand G, prompting the head of Italy's soccer federation Giancarlo Abete to say that the federation would not ask for more tickets for any matches Italy played abroad, as quoted by Reuters.
"We are not talking about fans but people who want to misbehave and damage the image of football and our country. The association and the interior ministry have the first and last names of people who had tickets," Abete said.
Only 150 Italian supporters were at the match in Sofia, a large proportion apparently from ultras groups. Three supporters were arrested for burning a Bulgarian flag, Bulgaria's Interior Ministry said.
"The fans need to be punished," Italian soccer federation president Giancarlo Abete told Rai television. "Tickets were sold with names on them so we can trace every single person."
Stringent travel bans are already in place for domestic league matches in Italy, with the country battling a soccer hooligan problem in recent years, made worse by the ultras' involvement in domestic politics, including clashes with immigrants throughout the country.
The Italian ultras in Sofia have reportedly been provoked by their local counterparts, with some media reports claiming that Bulgarian hardcore supporters mocked the visiting team's fans outside the stadium and loudly booed the Italian anthem before the start of the match.
A group of Bulgarian supporters bearing fascist insignia sang loud chants about Italy and World War 2. Two Bulgarians were arrested for 24 hours for trying to enter the stadium armed, Bulgaria's Interior Ministry said.
Meanwhile, the game itself was 90 minutes of unattractiveness to watch with both teams producing a very tedious football, and Bulgaria lacking any kind of ambition or drive to win the match, which they could have, as Italy came to Sofia with six of their first-choice players missing. The scoreless draw kept Italy at the top of qualifying group eight on seven points, three clear of the Republic of Ireland.
If Italy have every reason to be satisfied with an away point in Sofia, a venue where some visiting sides could yet be in for a torrid time, this was nonetheless an understated performance by the world champions against a frankly modest and cautious Bulgaria.
It speaks volumes of Bulgaria's attitude that Italian goalkeeper Marco Amelia, in goal for the injured Gianluigi Buffon, made his one and only save of the match in the 87th minute when stopping a shot from midfielder Chavdar Yankov. Indeed, so cautious were Bulgaria that one was wondering at times when would the hosts actually mount an attack, if ever.
Italy dominated ball possession and at least faked some assaults on the Bulgarian goal, whereas Bulgaria seemed resigned to defending with everyone behind the ball and with complete and utter lack of imagination. The only thing in the book was to stay on the defence and mount a hopeful counter attack with a long ball to Manchester United hitman Dimitar Berbatov, in the hope that he would be able to do something extraordinary and win the match all on his own.
Speaking after the game, Italian coach Lippi pronounced himself well satisfied with a result which saw him extend his unbeaten run as Italian coach to 29 games.
"I'm satisfied not just with the performance but also the result because Bulgaria have some very good players who might have caused us problems. The fact that they did very little against us is all credit to my players who showed a lot of personality and authority on the field," he said, as quoted on Fifa's website.
