The mayor of Turin has appealed for Juventus supporters to show “good sense” before next week’s Champions League quarter-final second leg against Liverpool amid fears that some fans are intent on attacking their Liverpool counterparts.
Liverpool met Juventus on Tuesday for the first time since the 1985 Heysel tragedy in Brussels in which 39 fans, mainly Juventus supporters, were killed.
The English club’s supporters attempts at reconciliation were snubbed by some Juventus supporters, prompting concerns that there may be trouble at the second leg in Turin.
“I am making an appeal to the good sense of the fans so that Juventus v Liverpool will be a festival of sport and not an occasion for clashes, or even worse a vendetta,” Turin mayor Sergio Chiamparino was quoted as saying in daily Gazzetta dello Sport on Friday.
“In the city the situation will be constantly under observation and there will be a tight co-ordination between the various forces of order and security,” he said.
“The role of organised supporters’ groups will be fundamental in order to isolate the hot-headed hardcore and create the conditions where they cannot do harm,” Chiamparino added.
Gazzetta also quoted a member of the undercover police unit Digos.
“We are dealing with the problems that could emerge from groups of Juventus ultras, who have in their mind acrimony and vendetta,” he said.
“We are in close contact with our English colleagues and we are preparing an extraordinary surveillance of agents in uniform and in plain clothes and we are monitoring fan websites on a daily basis,” said the Digos source.
The mayor said Liverpool supporters would be given leaflets in an attempt to ensure that their visit passes off peacefully.
“The English fans will be given leaflets indicating the points in the city that where it is advised for them to stay for their own security. They are meeting points to make security more straightforward and compact,” he said.
