Two Brighton fans stabbed, robbed in Italy ahead of Roma Europa League clash

Two Brighton & Hove Albion fans were stabbed and robbed at a bar in Rome on Wednesday night.

According to Mirror, the supporters aged 27 and 28 attacked were rushed to a hospital after sustaining minor injuries and have since been discharged.

The fans experienced the tragic incident ahead of the Premier League side’s Europa League match with Italian side Roma.

The report said they were attacked while leaving Via Cavour in the heart of the Italian capital around midnight on Wednesday.

One of the supporters on a Seagulls fan club forum revealed they had been “stuck in a hospital corridor for six hours”.

Staff from restaurants where the incident happened raised the alarm after witnessing the attack and police were called. 

It has been reported that a gang of six or seven masked individuals were involved in the attack, with the victims’ wallets being stolen.

A Brighton fan said, “Me and a couple of my mates got attacked in Rome last night after leaving a bar. Just want to say that every Brighton fan in Rome please be careful. It’s so dangerous out here and worse than Marseille.”

Meanwhile, Brighton released a statement for fans ahead of the match with safety information for those travelling. A section warned of street crime in the area and passed on local police advice to avoid wearing colours.

Roberto De Zerbi’s men travel to the Stadio Olimpico on Thursday evening for their Europa League last-16 first-leg clash. It is suggested that around 4,000 fans have made the trip to the Italian capital to watch the Seagulls in action.

Speaking ahead of the first leg, Italian boss De Zerbi said: “We’ll see tomorrow whether the stadium will intimidate us or not, we played at Old Trafford and we won, we drew 2-2 in Marseille, we played at AEK Athens and we won. I know the push of the Olimpico, let’s see tomorrow, it will be a test for us.

“I believe that we need to be given even more strength, I have been coaching for 10 years and I have changed five or six teams, I feel that these Brighton players are temperamentally closer to me in terms of pride, hunger and dignity, motivation, values, in how they experience football.

“The old and the young live football like me, I’m confident but the pitch will decide. Regarding injuries, I’d say that it is a topic to be taken in two ways, either we cry and say how many important players we have out, or we take it as an opportunity because we aim to go through and compete with all these injured players.”

SOURCE: Vanguard