Opinion | ‘There’s blood on the bridge’: fans on edge as Roma host Liverpool in Champions League second leg
Manchester United fans know all too well about the violent Rome ultras, having made several trips to the Italian capital in the past
“There’s blood on the bridge. Don’t go there,” was the warning from a fellow Manchester United fan as I stepped off a packed bus outside Rome’s Stadio Olimpico before a Champions League game in December 2007. The blue flashing lights of police riot vans added further chill to the cold night air as did robocops in riot gear sweeping between the traffic, their batons poised for action.
An incident had just happened between the Tiber River and the beautiful cypress trees which surround the stadium.
Another fan repeated the message about going to the bridge, a notorious ambush point of Roma’s violent ultras. You don’t expect football violence to be played out amid the granite statues, boulevards and rich mosaics at the foot of Monte Mario.
Soon after, my mobile hummed with texts. “Reports that five United stabbed,” says one. Four United fans were also jailed and accused of a role in the fracas. When the teams met again in March 2008 for the third time in a year, a banner was held up fro Roma fans declaring: “FREE THE ROMA 4.”
Rome is a beautiful city, but travelling there as an English football fan, as Liverpool fans will do this week for a Champions League semi-final second leg, is not without risks.
The overwhelming majority of Roma fans are friendly and can help create one of the best atmospheres in world football, but a minority have long been bent on trouble.