Italy-Albania match interrupted in World Cup qualifying

The Italy-Albania match, part of the qualification phase for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, was interrupted today in the 57th minute due to flares thrown by the visiting fans, and the game remained paused for about ten minutes.

Almost 2,500 Albanian fans present in the stands of the Renzo Barbera stadium in Palermo (Sicily, southern Italy) threw firecrackers and flares onto the field and also into a section where Italian fans were located, causing the interruption of the match.

The referee, Slovenian Slavko Vincic, stopped the match in the 57th minute and accompanied the players to the dressing room tunnel, where they stayed for about ten minutes waiting for the Albanian fans to stop throwing objects.

Captain Ledian Memushaj approached his fans' section to encourage them to let the match resume and was able to normalize the situation.

The score is 1-0 in favor of Italy, who took the lead in the 10th minute thanks to a penalty scored by Daniele De Rossi.