|
|||
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
Tear gas halts Fiorentina cup tie
![]() Mutu equalized for Juventus in a match marred by crowd trouble FLORENCE, Italy -- Fiorentina and Juventus drew 2-2 in an Italian Cup quarterfinal which was suspended when tear gas engulfed the stadium. Police dispersed gas to try and prevent rival fans from clashing with each other, although three fans were injured. Referee Luca Palanca stopped play two minutes into the second half with Fiorentina leading 1-0. Players and fans stood bewildered as they covered their faces and Palanca eventually ordered the teams off the field. Medical teams treated fans and TV reported that the tear gas caused some players to suffer stomach problems. Play resumed 20 minutes later, once the gas had cleared, and it was Fiorentina who looked the more alert. The incident will inflict more damage on the tarnished image of Italian football which already this week has struggled to come to grips with the racist abuse suffered by a Messina player during last weekend's Serie A game against Inter Milan. Neither side were at full strength. Fiorentina coach Cesare Prandelli left Serie A top scorer Luca Toni on the bench while Juventus coach Fabio Capello opted to rest his first-choice strike partnership of David Trezeguet and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Even so it proved an exciting match, with Fiorentina striker Giampaolo Pazzini heading narrowly wide and Marcelo Zalayeta hitting the bar in the opening half hour. Bulgaria striker Valeri Bojinov broke the deadlock in the 38th minute, bringing down Tomas Ujfalusi's cross and volleying crisply past keeper Gianluigi Buffon, playing his first game after a three-month absence with a shoulder injury. Bojinov almost grabbed a second when he curled a free kick onto the crossbar. Pazzini doubled the home side's lead in the 50th minute, catching Juve's defence cold to beat the offside trap and slip the ball in at Buffon's near post -although he appeared to use his left arm to control the ball. Juve replied three minutes later when midfielder Patrick Vieira teed up an inviting ball on the edge of the area that Gianluca Pessotto thumped past keeper Sebastian Frey. The visitors equalised in the 69th minute when an Adrian Mutu cross curled over the top of Frey and bounced in off the far post. The return leg is scheduled for January. League leaders Juventus and third-place Fiorentina also play on Sunday in Serie A.
| | |||||||||||||||||||||
| © 2007 Cable News Network LP, LLLP. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Read our privacy guidelines. Contact us. Site Map. |
|