Originally Posted by BBC Sport

Milan game ended by crowd trouble

AC Milan have been provisionally awarded the quarter-final tie against Inter Milan after it was abandoned amid ugly scenes of crowd trouble.

The game was halted in the 73rd minute after Inter fans threw flares, one of which hit keeper Dida on the shoulder.

The trouble started when Inter, 3-0 down on aggregate after Andriy Shevchenko's first-half strike, saw Esteban Cambiasso's effort ruled out.

Play resumed for 30 seconds after a 20-minute delay before being abandoned.

Uefa is likely to confirm on Wednesday that the tie will be awarded to AC Milan, while Inter can expect to face severe sanctions by European football's governing body.

The game had got off to a controversial start after Shevchenko appeared to headbutt Marco Materazzi in the second minute.

Neither the referee, Markus Merk, or his assistant spotted the offence so Shevchenko remained on the field.

Should Uefa investigate Shevchenko's headbutt on Materazzi, the AC Milan forward could be charged with violent conduct which could rule him out of both semi-final legs.

Shevchenko appeared to deliberately clatter into Materazzi, setting the tone for a fractious opening period.

When the game did settle, Inter pressured AC Milan's defence with Adriano causing Alessandro Nesta all kinds of problems with his physical presence.

Indeed, Nesta was booked for a foul on Adriano which means he will miss the next match.

Where Nesta failed, Jaap Stam was immovable and the Dutchman had another outstanding game, thwarting Adriano at every move.

Andriy Shevchenko celebrates his opener
Shevchenko scored a superb goal

Inter's best efforts came from long range with Juan Sebastian Veron and Kily Gonzalez forcing superb saves from Dida, who was also in imperious form.

At the other end, Toldo's only real action of the first half was picking the ball out of his net after Shevchenko's superb left-foot strike from the edge of the area.

Inter's chances of getting back into the match were always going to be limited given that they had not beaten AC Milan in three years.

And they suffered a further setback when Adriano limped off soon after the break.

His replacement Obafemi Martins almost made an immediate impact, but Dida's outstretched leg diverted his shot onto the post.

Inter continued to press for the equaliser and they thought they had go it when Cambiasso headed home Veron's corner with 20 minutes left.

But referee Merk deemed that Dida had been fouled in the build-up to the goal and awarded a free-kick.

That decision sparked bottle and flare-throwing, and Dida was struck on the shoulder, the firework only missing his head by inches.

While the goalkeeper received treatment in the middle of his own half, Inter's Cristiano Zanetti and Veron tried to clear the AC Milan penalty area of the missiles but to no avail.

Merk instructed the players to leave the pitch. After a lengthy delay, both sides came back on, only for the restart to last 30 seconds before Merk abandoned the tie completely.

The referee will now submit his report to the Uefa Control and Disciplinary Body, who will deal with the case.

Originally Posted by psycho-

It's european sports. They're used to rowdy behaviour.

Originally Posted by DarkFury

Heh... I wonder if it woulda been ok for Ron Artest to roll up into the stands had he been playing in the European league.

Originally Posted by bachviet

He probably is going to get his a$$ whooped hard over there.

Originally Posted by Grubbie

That isn't that bad, soccer games have a bad history of holligans and riots....

I know Liverpool played juventus for the first time in 20yrs after a HUGE inncident, this really never happens in this US so..

Link
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...ster_revisited

More info
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heysel_Stadium_disaster

Mostly, 39fans were killed before the game in a clash between the two teams supporters. My roommate was telling me when juventus played liverpool for the first time in 20yrs a little bit ago. A bunch of liverpool fans helped up a sign saying we're sorry. The juventus fans turned around and showed them their backs and raised their hands and flicked them off in return.

Back to the flares, if you read some of the articles, it says how a italian team(maybe inter). Tossed a moped off the upper balcony, now that is funny. Mostly the ref blew the call right in front of all the inter fans, and they went nuts.

Originally Posted by bachviet

I was still in VN when that happened and I followed European soccer very closely. One of my favorite player, Platini, was on the Juventus team. They ended up winning the game and the Intercontinental Cup later also. EUFA banned English clubs from playing in the EUFA tournaments for a while.

Originally Posted by InfiniteNothing

The truth is, anyone can be a wolf in sheep's clothes. Except maybe Hillary. That's a wolf in a slightly less attractive wolf's clothing.