Violence making headlines
The Serie A season is only one match old but already football has been pushed onto the back seat and hooligan violence is dominating the headlines in Italy.
Giants AC Milan lost their opening home match to newly-promoted Bologna and normally the pressure would be on them to respond in a tricky away tie at Genoa.
But instead it is violence on the tip of every tongue and football bosses are so worried that away fans have been barred from travelling to Fiorentina's trip to Napoli and Catania's journey to Inter Milan.
It's because a group of about 1,000 Napoli fans, mostly ticketless, wrecked a train bound for Rome ahead of a Serie A opener two weeks ago.
But a Napoli fans' group has hit back at the bad press the club has since received -- not only bad press, sanctions too as all Napoli fans were banned by the Interior Ministry from travelling to away matches for the rest of the season.
"The vast majority of Napoli fans are good people who go to the stadium out of passion: the measures taken by the sporting justice are extremely severe," moaned Rosa Russo from the Napoli supporters syndicate.
"We feel anger and disdain for what has happened because a single group of hooligans have made guilty by association all the good people who can't now go to the stadium on Sundays."
On Thursday the Italian Football League president Antonio Matarrese suggested that putting prison cells inside stadiums could be a possibility.
"That way if there are hooligans we can put them quickly behind bars and then transfer them to prison," he said. "Either we have to be strong or it's better to surrender. We will not surrender."
It is all overshadowing what has been a surprisingly difficult start for all five of the top title contenders. Champions Inter were held to a draw at Sampdoria in their opening match while AS Roma drew at home to Napoli.
Fiorentina and Juventus ended in a stalemate but the biggest problems were with Milan who lost despite an impressive debut from Ronaldinho.
Things could be looking up for the six-time European champions, though, as world player of the year Kaka came through a friendly run out against Swiss Lugano in midweek in his comeback from knee surgery.
"Personally I feel good. I feel calm. I played 45 minutes which did me good and most of all I realised that I don't feel any more pain," he said.
Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti will be desperate to get the Brazilian back into the starting line-up so his team don't suffer the same malaise that ruptured their hopes of success last season.
Milan failed to win any of their first seven home league matches and a 2-1 defeat to Inter before Christmas left them more than 20 points off the pace.
Jose Mourinho's Inter also have problems, though, but more so with personnel.
Patrick Vieira is back to fitness but captain Javier Zanetti and fellow Argentine Esteban Cambiasso as well as Brazilian pair Maicon and Julio Cesar don't return to Milan until Friday following South American World Cup qualifiers.
Dejan Stankovic was injured playing for Serbia in midweek and Mourinho already had defensive problems that forced him to play midfielder Cambiasso at centre-back against Sampdoria.
The opposite is the case for Juventus, who host Udinese on Sunday and could welcome back Italy centre-half Giorgio Chiellini, although he is more likely to be on the bench with a return to the first team scheduled for midweek in the Champions League.
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