Genoa fan murdered at match

The murder of a Genoa supporter led to the club's home game against Milan, who play Arsenal in the European Super Cup at Highbury on Wednesday, being abandoned at half-time yesterday.

Vincenzo Spagnolo was knifed shortly before the game and died in hospital. When the news reached the Genoa supporters inside the Luigi Ferraris stadium, they began hurling missiles, chanting "murderers".

The game was shown live on Channel 4's Football Italia, and fans could be seen training a fire hose on other supporters. Outside the ground, fans smashed almost every car window in sight, destroyed two buses, and threw rocks at police, who fired tear gasto keep them back. Seven people were taken to hospital, one with a fractured skull.

The murder was condemned by players, coaches and officials, and there was a call for next weekend's matches to be postponed. "Compared to a life, what is a game worth," said Ottavio Bianchi, the Internazionale coach. "It would be better for all of us to find another profession."

Spagnolo was stabbed in the stomach by one of a group of about 20 who had been taunting Genoa fans though, according to witnesses, the attackers were not wearing Milan's red and black.

Gianluca Vialli, the Juventus striker, said it was right to stop the game. "But it would be wrong simply to spout rhetoric. We players can do little to stop the plague of violence. With certain types of fans, there's little to do, because the violent ones don't care about the consequences."