Napoli captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo warned the Azzurri fans to ‘don’t respond to provocations’, but clashes between groups of Partenopei and Eintracht Frankfurt supporters have already begun hours before a Champions League match at the Stadio Maradona.
German fans have been prohibited from attending the match and could not even purchase tickets for Wednesday’s second leg of the Champions League Round of 16 in Naples.
However, hundreds of them arrived in town from Salerno on Tuesday night and a video going viral on social media shows a bus of German supporters, escorted by Italian police assaulted, by a group of Partenopei ultras.
According to Il Corriere dello Sport nobody was wounded in the assault, while another group of hooded people threw bottles at a bar in Naples’ city centre on Tuesday night. They were probably Eintracht supporters who arrived in Italy despite the ban imposed by the Italian Government.
Napoli captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo had urged Partenopei fans on social media to avoid responding to provocations and hopefully, they will follow his advice today.
“We are having a fantastic season and tomorrow we can make history if we reach the quarter-finals for the first time,” he said on Instagram on Tuesday.
“We must all live a nice day without incidents and fights with those arriving in town. Not only at the stadium, but also in the streets, in squares, everywhere in our marvellous city. As the captain, I ask you not to respond to provocations. I repeat: let’s make tomorrow [today] a great day.