Thanks to the police, Feyenoord fans barely escape Roman revenge


Thursday, April 20, 2023 at 1:57 PM• Tom Rofekamp

The Feyenoord fans who traveled to Rome to encourage their club were released with a fright on Wednesday. While the group was preparing for the Europa League match with AS Roma in an Irish pub, the Italian hooligans were informed of their destination. The Feyenoord fans were attacked and had to be rescued by the Italian police. Everyone was eventually brought to safety.

Although no Rotterdam supporters are welcome in Stadio Olimpico on Thursday for security reasons, 100 to 150 of them traveled to Rome. True to tradition, they prepared for the European meeting in a pub, in this case near the Colosseum. Roman supporters became aware of this and decided to pay the Dutch a visit. The Roma fans wanted to confront, but the Italian police intervened.

City buses were deployed to safely bring the Feyenoord fans to their hotels. This was done in collaboration with a delegation from the Rotterdam police, which traveled to Rome as a precaution. Presumably the Roman fans sought revenge for the events in February 2015. Also then, Roma and Feyenoord met for the Europa League and Rotterdam supporters misbehaved in the center of the Italian capital. Among other things, the Barcaccia fountain was damaged.

Feyenoord will defend a 1-0 lead in the Stadio Olimpico on Thursday. With a good result, revenge will be taken in the best possible way on last year’s lost Conference League final. Then Jose Mourinho’s selection was 1-0 too strong in Tirana. The game kicks off at 9 p.m. and is led by Englishman Anthony Taylor.