Catania earn crowd trouble ban

Crowd trouble following the Sicilian derby has earned Catania a two-match ban on playing in front of their home fans.

There were incidents both before and after Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Messina at the Stadio Massimino, resulting in a dozen injuries among the police and six arrested supporters. Catania were already on a warning after crowd trouble in the previous local clash with Palermo last Wednesday evening.

The behaviour of the fans was “unjustifiable” and “inflicted damage on people in the area and evidently raised the danger for the public’s safety.”

Catania will now play their next two home games against Lazio (Week 7) and Torino (Week 9) behind closed doors. “The ban was inflicted considering how inefficient the warning proved to be for problems in a game just days earlier.”