Post by Salem6 on Feb 7, 2007 18:28:35 GMT
By Cindy Garcia-Bennett, PA Sport, Rome
AC Milan and Internazionale could face playing the remainder of this season's home games behind closed doors should the government stand by a safety rules proposal.
The decisions comes in the wake of a crowd unrest at Catania last Friday which led to the death of police officer Filippo Raciti and left numerous others injured.
The Italian authorities plan to ban spectators from stadia not considered to have met required security standards.
Milan's Giuseppe Meazza Stadium is among those stadia that fail to meet the required criteria established in a government decree.
"If the authorities confirm their decision is final, we will have to play behind closed doors," said AC Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani.
And Galliani believes work at the Meazza Stadium will not be completed until the start of next season.
"They certainly will not be finished before October," said Galliani.
"The San Siro (Meazza) is one of the biggest stadia and the work will not be finished before the end of the season.
"AC Milan and Inter have done everything possible, but there is nothing we can do to speed up the process."
The decision is likely to prevent fans from attending the first leg of Milan's Champions League last-16 clash with Celtic on March 7.
It is understood that only five stadia in Serie A are currently acceptable - the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, the Artemio Franchi in Siena, the Stadio Olimpico in Turin, Renzo Barbera in Palermo, Sampdoria's Luigi Ferraris and Messina's San Filippo.
The Italian government will announce on Thursday the security measures football clubs need to adopt from now on.
Italian Football commissioner Luca Prandelli has confirmed that those rules implemented by the government will take effect immediately and stadia that eventually meet the safety guidelines in the future will have their bans lifted.
"The security problem is the number-one priority," said Pancalli. "Watching the football comes later. I obviously speak about safety for everyone, from officers, to fans, executives, referees, coaches and players."
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