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| Thursday, 14 October 2010 09:02 |
“If it wasn’t for us Stojkovic would be dead now” – DjuricicLeiria goalkeeper describes shocking Serbian violence  The full extent of the wrath of Serbian supporters that was unleashed on Tuesday night is now emerging. Uniao de Leiria goalkeeper, Djuricic, claims his international team-mate Stojkovic “would be dead now” if his colleagues had not intervened to prevent the angry mob from setting upon the Sporting goalkeeper. As Portugal were busy getting their Euro 2012 qualifying campaign back on track, ugly scenes were playing out in Genoa, where hooliganism from Serbian fans forced the Italy versus Serbia match to the abandoned after six minutes.
Upon arriving back in Portugal, Djuricic painted a shocking picture of the chaos caused by the Serbian hooligans. “I’m free. Finally I can sigh in relief and walk on the soil of a country where I know I’m safe,” Djuricic told Maisfutebol.
“If it wasn’t for us Stojkovic would be dead now. If it wasn’t for the players protecting him, the fans would have killed him.
“They set fire to the entrance of the hotel, stoned the team bus, managed to get inside the bus and headed straight for Stojkovic to attack him. If we hadn’t got in front of him they would have killed him. The Serbians are crazy. In Serbia anything is possible. They are crazy people.
“While this continues I will not play again for the national team. In Serbia it’s not even safe to go out on the street.”
Political overtonesThe frightening occurrences did not come as a complete surprise to another Serbian footballer who plays for Leiria. Left-back Milos Obradovic explained that the problem goes much deeper than football.
“Hooliganism is a serious problem in Serbia. There are a lot of hooligans in Partizan Belgrade and Red Star Belgrade. On the one hand it was about Stojkovic. He came through the ranks at Red Star, he said he would never play for Partizan and now he has signed for them [on loan from Sporting]. The radical supporters of Red Star will never forgive him and want to kill him.
“On the other hand, the violence is also linked to the European Union. The people responsible for it are the same people who attacked demonstrators at the Gay Parade in Belgrade on Sunday. They are far-right extremists who defend nationalism and do not want Serbia to join the European Union.
“In Serbia there are a lot of crazy people, who live just to attack and kill others,” said Obradovic.
In the wake of the trouble in Genoa, Uefa are expected to award a 3-0 victory to Italy. A heavy fine and the ordering of matches to be played behind closed doors are likely to follow, although there is also a suggestion that Serbia may be thrown out of the competition altogether
by Tom Kundert
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It underlines the problems that still go on in sports, due to a few crazies.
I think that it's unfair to blame Italy in any way. They might have benn unprepaired and reacted a bit late, but did make the arrests.
The sad part is that apparently there was a huge meeting in Belgrade in which the hooligans planned this out. Everyone in Serbia knew about it, but authorities did nothing or warn anyone.
I believ that its only been a year or so, since Serbs are allowed to travel without visas. Maybe that needs to the rethunk.
We also must be careful to condemn a whole country, just because a few went nuts. That being said, I might visit, but not attend any sporting event.
It's so ignorant to say Emanuel, that you shouldn't go there because of these riots. Why let the minority of complete idiots (and every single country has them) ruin it for the majority. Why would not want to see another fantastic country?
I definitely reccommend visiting Serbia, as it is one of the untapped gems in Europe. I walked around Belgrade and went to the famous raft clubs on the River Danube and not once did I feel in danger, the only thing I did feel threatened by was the Serb music lol non stop Serb music at every single club that night, drained it!
Anyway, I've been away and this is the first I've heard of the violence, I agree with a previous poster about setting bans on the Belgrade club teams. There should be strong deterrence for this kind of behaviour and also no one should ever go to Belgrade, ever. Even if you live there, not until this madness is dealt with.
Good day
Serbia Days in EURO 2012 qualification are numbered...
I keep thinking to myself, why the hell are the Italian police allowing these clowns to do this in their country. Its like they wanted the match to be canceled since Italy is playing like shit. UEFA is looking at giving Italy the 3-0, I think they should just give both sides 0 points. Its mind blowing that a group of trouble makers within the 2000 away fans created this much havoc and were still allowed into the game.
Anyways, this isn't acceptable what so ever and Serbia should face some serious bans. If this has to do with their two larger clubs, then ban them from the CL and Europa. This should get their own fans to case out these clowns from their sports.
Braga have 2 games with Partizan to look forward to in the coming weeks, I hope their fans take care in Belgrade (although I doubt they'll take many there). Only a year ago a Toulouse fan was murdered in Belgrade after a Europa League game against Partizan.