Photo: Thomas Salme
Last nights 3rd round group stage Europa League fixture between Partizan Belgrad and Inter was deemed as a high-risk match by both Italian and Serbian police-forces who made their utmost efforts to keep the two teams supporters separated in the city centre as well as the area surrounding the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza. Also a temporary ban regarding the sale and consumption of alcohol around the stadium was put in place to try to cool off an otherwise very aggressive atmosphere which saturated San Siro yesterday. The reason for these hostilities lay in the fact that A.C. Milans hardline supporters also known as Ultra’s have a friendship pact with parts of the Partizan Belgrade Ultra’s and ahead of this clash A.C. Milans Ultra’s did everything to welcome their Serbian friends during their stay in Milan, especially during their fixture against fierce cross-town rivals Inter. This behaviour led Inter’s Ultra’s to mock the friendship between the Partizan and Milan Ultra’s during last nights fixture by displaying several banners in Italian as well as in Serbo-Croatian during the second half as the one which can be seen above which states in Cyrillic “Milan fans are clowns”.
Photo: Thomas Salme
Halfway through the second half another banner (see above) was displayed which stated in Italian: Conigli con i Serbi…Con che faccia vi presentate al prossimo derby??? When translated literally into English it becomes Rabbits with the Serbs….with what face will you show yourselves in the coming derby??? which doesn’t really make any sense at all, unless we take into consideration the fact that when translating from one language into another certain words can in one language connote another deeper meaning which can be completely lost in translation when crudely translated without further explanation nor exploration. In Italy the rabbit or hare signifies the act of cowardice similar to when an American refers to someone as behaving like a chicken, which is the meaning that the Curva Nord are aiming to portray their Rossoneri counterparts as. The second part of the banner purports to suggest that the Milan Ultra’s have no honour which is a very serious allegation in this context by stating that since they have behaved so cowardly how can they show themselves come the next derby game or Cowards who stand with the Serbs….How will you be able to show your faces come the next derby???
Photo: Thomas Salme
A few minutes later after the second banner was shown, another banner (see above) was rolled out on the Curva Nord terrace which in Italian stated: Conigli di merda…Il coraggio non si compra con un gemellaggio! which translates into Cowardly shites…Courage cannot be bought together with a friendship pact which is a very clear and aggressive attack on the AC Milan Ultra’s and their friendship pact with certain groups within the Partizan Belgrad Ultra’s groups and it remains to be seen how this is interpreted by the different Ultra groups within the Partizan faithfull. So far no reports regarding any riots nor aggressive behaviour in and around Milan have been reported, but we will not know for sure how these banners have been received by the Partizan faithfull until Inter travel to Belgrade for the return leg of the Europa League group stage fixture. There is however, a possibility that Partizan’s Ultra’s do not care at all about these banners since several leading groups within the Partizan Ultra’s have strongly opposed the friendship pact with the Rossoneri but as history has taught us on several occassions it is that nothing unites two sets of people as the quench for vengeance against a common foe. Therefore, there is a strong possibility that Partizans Ultra’s may interpret these banners as an act of war and in which case the return leg in Belgrade could be tarnished with violence and unrest, but we will not know for sure until November 8th when both teams square off again, this time in the Serbian capital.