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Police injured as Lazio’s 119th anniversary celebrations turn violent

Eight police officers were injured after celebrations to mark Lazio's 119th anniversary in the centre of Rome turned violent.

Published: 9 January 2019 12:14 CET

Police injured as Lazio's 119th anniversary celebrations turn violent

File Photo: Andreas Solaro/AFP

The skirmishes took place at Piazza della Liberta in the centre of the Italian capital where up to 2,500 Lazio fans gathered late Tuesday at the site of the club's foundation, police told Italian media today.

The gathering had also been attended by the club's president Claudio Lotito who addressed the crowd but left before tensions mounted.

Shortly after midnight, an estimated 300 fans, with their faces covered, broke away from the main group and began throwing bottles and other objects at police, who responded with tear gas and water cannons.

Police said eight officers had injuries, mostly with cuts and bruising.

One fan was arrested and three others detained, all with links to the club's notorious 'Ultra' fans.

All will receive DASPO Urbano exclusion orders, a 'Sports Event Access Ban'.

Tensions are running high in Italian football after violent clashes before Inter Milan's league game against Napoli on December 26 in the San Siro, which was also overshadowed by racist chanting. A 39-year-old Inter Milan fan was killed after being struck by a car before the match.

There were also clashes in Rome before Lazio's Europa League game against German club Eintracht Frankfurt last month.

Lazio were founded at Piazza della Liberta on January 9th, 1900, by a group of army officers.

In 2017, The Local reported on the scandal of Lazio fans abusing the memory of Anne Frank.

The Lazio 'ultras' have previously been in hot water over anti-Semitic gestures, Celtic crosses, monkey chants and fascist salutes, leading to them often being seen as a far-right club.

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FC Barcelona's Spanish midfielder Alexia Putellas poses after being awarded thewomen's Ballon d'Or award.

FC Barcelona's Spanish midfielder Alexia Putellas poses after being awarded thewomen's Ballon d'Or award. Photo: FRANCK FIFE / AFP

Putellas is the third winner of the prize, following in the footsteps of Ada Hegerberg, who won the inaugural women’s Ballon d’Or in 2018, and United States World Cup star Megan Rapinoe, winner in 2019.

Putellas captained Barcelona to victory in this year’s Champions League, scoring a penalty in the final as her side hammered Chelsea 4-0 in Gothenburg.

She also won a Spanish league and cup double with Barca, the club she joined as a teenager in 2012, and helped her country qualify for the upcoming Women’s Euro in England.

Her Barcelona and Spain teammate Jennifer Hermoso finished second in the voting, with Sam Kerr of Chelsea and Australia coming in third.

It completes an awards double for Putellas, who in August was named player of the year by European football’s governing body UEFA.

But it’s also a huge win for Spain as it’s the first time in 61 years that a Spanish footballer – male or female – is crowned the world’s best footballer of the year, and only the second time in history a Spaniard wins the Ballon d’Or.

Former Spanish midfielder Luis Suárez (not the ex Liverpool and Barça player now at Atlético) was the only Spanish-born footballer to win the award in 1960 while at Inter Milan. Argentinian-born Alfredo Di Stefano, the Real Madrid star who took up Spanish citizenship, also won it in 1959.

Who is Alexia Putellas?

Alexia Putellas grew up dreaming of playing for Barcelona and after clinching the treble of league, cup and Champions League last season, her status as a women’s footballing icon was underlined as she claimed the Ballon d’Or on Monday.

Unlike the men’s side, Barca’s women swept the board last term with the 27-year-old, who wears “Alexia” on the back of her shirt, at the forefront, months before Lionel Messi’s emotional departure.

Attacker Putellas, who turns 28 in February, spent her childhood less than an hour’s car journey from the Camp Nou and she made her first trip to the ground from her hometown of Mollet del Valles, for the Barcelona derby on January 6, 2000.

Barcelona's Spanish midfielder Alexia Putellas (R) vies with VfL Wolfsburg's German defender Kathrin Hendrich — Putellas plays as a striker for Barça and Spain. GABRIEL BOUYS / POOL / AFP

Exactly 21 years later she became the first woman in the modern era to score in the stadium, against Espanyol. Her name was engraved in the club’s history from that day forward, but her story started much earlier.

She started playing the sport in school, against boys.

“My mum had enough of me coming home with bruises on my legs, so she signed me up at a club so that I stopped playing during break-time,” Putellas said last year.

So, with her parent’s insistence, she joined Sabadell before being signed by Barca’s academy.

“That’s where things got serious… But you couldn’t envisage, with all one’s power, to make a living from football,” she said.

After less than a year with “her” outfit, she moved across town to Espanyol and made her first-team debut in 2010 before losing to Barca in the final of the Copa de la Reina.

She then headed south for a season at Valencia-based club Levante before returning “home” in July 2012, signing for Barcelona just two months after her father’s death.

In her first term there she helped Barca win the league and cup double, winning the award for player of the match in the final of the latter competition.

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