Rome-Feyenoord, clashes and incidents in Tirana: Albanian fan wounded in the head ended up in hospital, 9 Dutch interrogated

The sound of sirens and groups of Dutch ultras from Feyenoord to threaten the night of Tirana. The air in the city hosting the final, the first, of the Conference League is tense, very tense. The first incidents between Feyenoord fans and Albanian boys tell of a head wound and 8 supporters who arrived from Rotterdam ended up in handcuffs. Fear and tension among the clubs in the center: the stadium, too small to meet the demands, was built in the streets of nightlife and, thus, managing public order is even more complicated. Dutch charter without ticket is coming in Pristina, Podgorica and Skopje.
Fans are seen around the city and around the stadium. The flags on the street are still few, especially the big banner hanging on the facade of the University near the stadium to make Mourinho understand that Tirana tomorrow will be a “Little Rome”. In the meantime, however, the Albanian capital, where there is a stadium that is a small jewel even if it looks more like a futurist structure than a sports facility, is facing an authentic invasion that has created traffic problems but which has also led to some clashes between supporters. There is concern for public order.
The prologue, with some Feyenoord fans, already tipsy, peeing on the Roma bus parked near the hotel that hosts the Giallorossi, is not encouraging, and neither is the memory of what happened at the Barcaccia in Piazza di Spagna, so yes they fear alcohol-fueled clashes, but the police here guarantee that they will be ready. For now, they guard all the access roads to the capital (which will be closed from tomorrow at 8 am) and 2800 agents are expected to be employed.
Tomorrow no cars in many areas of the center and as of today the police have released the map, both in Albanian and English, of all the roads ‘barred’ to traffic. All public offices are also closed, while there will be 400 volunteers specially ‘trained’ by the city authorities to assist foreign fans on the street. Eight teams of doctors and nurses have also been mobilized to act at the stadium, while another 89 ambulances will be ready to intervene in any point of the city. All this to cope with an influx of people never seen in these parts but it is typical of great football and its finals. By midnight today at Tirana’s Mother Teresa airport, subjected to overwork (“double the number we normally manage”, underlined the airport director, Costantin von Albensleben), 142 flights will arrive, 18 of which are chartered only fans. Tomorrow another 176 flights will land, of which 36 exclusively ‘football’ charters that will bring, among others, VIP fans such as Francesco Totti (“I’d like to play in Tirana too” the former captain said today in Monte Carlo), Antonello Venditti and Carlo Verdone. For now in Tirana the greatest presence seems to be that of the Dutch supporters, with accompanying songs in some pubs, while the Romanists are less also because some, a thousand, are arriving by sea, landing in Durres and then off to Tirana. Those of them who do not have a ticket (but many Albanians have bought them for their Italian friends) will be conveyed to the fan zone reserved for the Giallorossi, near the artificial lake not far from the Kombetare stadium. To facilitate those who want to leave by ferry in the night after the game, the departure from Durres to Bari was set at 2 am on Friday instead of 11 pm on Thursday as usual. In any case, here they foresee the presence of at least thirty thousand people, including Italians and Dutch, who will arrive without a ticket and for this reason the attention is at the highest levels, with related risks, for those who will be caught out, of zero tolerance. Romanists and ‘Rotterdammers’ are advised