Bologna

I live there. Nil. There's a Brescia fan who's been in a coma for 18 months having been on the receiving end of *robust* policing. There hasn't even been an internal police enquiry.

Absoulutely spot on. Fans of all clubs in Italy sing a nice little ditty describing this very scenario which goes like this: Lo sbirro è l'animale più feroce che c'è Quando indossa la divisa un leone è Ma nella vita sai che uomo è? Di merda! Rough translation: Cops are the most vicious animals In their unifoms they act like lions But do you know what they are in normal life? s***

Exactly. Another way of looking at it is that the forces of law and order in Italy are weak with the powerful and powerful with the weak. Translated to a footy scenario this means that they'd rather deal in an OTT manner with the away fans than give the home fans a taste of what they deserve to avoid the risk of sparking a city-wide riot i.e. it's easier to control 4000 away fans than 60000 home ones

I was in Rome when we played them in the UEFA cup in 2001. I got chatting with a bar owner and he said it's like this (stabbings, general mayhem) every time a European match takes place. Althougn I get the impression they save their *best* for the English cos our reputation (however inaccurate that may have become now) precedes us.

I'd go one further and say a fair proportion of Italian cops are failed delinquents itching for a ruck like last night. The Italian police do not have the skills or training to control large crowds. They only have two levels in their modus operandi: A - do nothing B - wade in with all guns blazing Last night was like a script, I've seen it happen so many times in Italy. 1 - home fans goad away fans 2 - away fans respond 3 - police attack away fans

The 2 sports bars I mentioned are Locos por el Futbol and World Sports Cafe. They are both in Recoleta near the famous cemetery where Eva Peron is buried. The former is on a sort of square which borders the cemetery. The latter is on a side street, also bordering the cemetery, at 1 end of the square. I don't know if you've been to BA before but 2 pieces of advice: 1) Don't get in a taxi unless you've had a large drink beforehand. The driving makes Naples seem like a country village. 2) BBQ beef is the main fodder but watch out because side dishes e.g. chips and salad must be ordered separately and cost as much as the meat.

I was there in Novemeber 2001. There are a couple of sports bars in Recoleta but I can't remember their names. The Barcelona games were on TV cos my mate who lives there rang me the day after the return leg to tell me he'd seen the match. If you're in a decent hotel you may well have the sports channels there.

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Inter merde Forza Bologna

Fair enough, but I still had a great view of the game.

I was in the Everton director's box for that game

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Yes, it seems complimetary to me as well. He's simply reiterating to the new owners what it actually means to own our great club.

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Isn't that because the pitch-side advertising hoardings are higher for the CL and so LFC don't sell the seats because you can hardly see anything from the front rows?

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You should see Italy, mate

Crowd sounds are always dumbed down for the overseas coverage. I know cos i watch it every week. However you could still hear the protest and the atmosphere was noticeably strange (if that's the word) for the enire 6 minutes.

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