Italy’s Minister for Sport Andrea Abodi insists the authorities in Naples were ‘absolutely right’ to ban Eintracht Frankfurt fans considering the violence that followed and UEFA President Aleksandar Ceferin ‘scored an own goal’ by condemning the move.
“What happened was very serious and entirely predictable, so I fully share the decision of the local authorities and this proves the decision by the prefect was absolutely right,” Minister for Sport Abodi told Sky Sport Italia.
“I am surprised, frankly very surprised, by the comments from Ceferin in recent days.”
The local authorities had initially imposed a blanket ban on all Germans from attending the second leg of the Champions League Round of 16 with Napoli at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona last night.
They lost an appeal, so narrowed it to banning only those born or resident in Frankfurt.
UEFA President Ceferin publicly criticised the ban on away fans and threatened repercussions for cities who refused to host travelling supporters.
Nonetheless, circa 600 Eintracht Frankfurt fans still made the journey to Naples – aided and accompanied by Atalanta ultras looking for trouble – and the results were violent clashes with police, who also had to struggle to keep them away from Napoli ultras.
They were not able to gain access to the stadium, but clashes continued last night after the game and again today.
“I believe in collaboration and above all in respect for one’s own roles. We cannot kid around when it comes to security. Talking about the situation from so far away seemed to be a bit of an own goal from Ceferin.”
Eintracht Frankfurt, meanwhile, have tried to pin the blame for yesterday’s clashes on Napoli fans, conveniently ignoring that 600 of their supporters made the journey to the city knowing full well they could not get into the match.