Today’s Serie A match between Empoli and Lecce has seen kick-off delayed by an hour after the teams were evacuated due to a small fire in the locker rooms, leading to bizarre scenes.
It was scheduled to kick off at 17.30 UK time (16.30 GMT), but circa an hour before that, players in the Empoli locker room could smell burning.
According to DAZN, they realised that there was a short-circuit in the panels above the locker room and that the fire, albeit small, was spreading rapidly.
Both sets of teams were evacuated so the fire services could enter and put out the fire, but considering it was sparked by the electrical system, there are fears of more potential problems and it needs to be investigated, especially in a stadium holding thousands of people.
The Lega Serie A announced that the kick-off has now been moved to 18.30 UK time (17.30 GMT) for security reasons.
Reporters only realised something was amiss when Empoli player Tommaso Baldanzi asked to use the toilet in the press area of the Stadio Castellani.
Just 20 minutes before the supposed kick-off, Lecce players were on the field doing a warm-up wearing slippers and flip-flops rather than their football boots, while everyone waited for more information.