1-1 with Croatia on Sunday in their Euro 2016 qualifier at San
Siro.
The players were taken from the field by referee Bjorn Kuipers
towards the end of the second half, with a number of flares
having been thrown onto the field.
Play subsequently resumed following a short delay, during
which trouble appeared to break out in the area of the ground
housing visiting fans, but neither side was able to find a winner.
Both teams came into Sunday's match, which had been
threatened by heavy rain in Milan, boasting maximum points in
Group H.
Italy took the lead through Antonio Candreva after 11 minutes
when the Lazio man drove home from distance to beat Danijel
Subasic as Croatia conceded for the first time in qualifying.
However, a rare Gianluigi Buffon error enabled Ivan Perisic to
equalise within four minutes and Croatia created the better
chances thereafter despite losing Luka Modric to injury later in
the first half.
A game that saw both Daniele De Rossi and Ivica Olic win their
100th international caps had already been briefly halted
following Perisic's goal as flares were thrown, and the various
off-field incidents are likely to attract attention from UEFA.
Croatia were eager to test Buffon early on, with Ivan Rakitic
letting fly from distance before Perisic and Modric both went
close amid a flurry of early chances.
However, with one of Italy's first sights on goal, Candreva beat
Subasic with a powerful strike from outside the area to put the
hosts in front against the run of play.
Italy's lead proved short-lived as Perisic cut onto his right foot
and fired low at Buffon, who failed to keep the effort out as it
squirmed under his body.
A number of flares stopped play from resuming straight away,
with fire officials required to put them out, but when it did
Croatia were dealt a blow with the withdrawal of Modric shortly
before the half-hour mark.
Italy were also forced into a switch as the injured Manuel
Pasqual was replaced by debutant Roberto Soriano.
Such regular stoppages saw the game broken up, although
Andrea Ranocchia was forced into a goalline clearance from an
Olic header after Buffon capped a difficult half by flapping at a
cross.
Home coach Antonio Conte turned to substitutes Stephan El
Shaarawy and Graziano Pelle either side of Rakitic testing Buffon
again shortly after the hour.
The Milan striker went close to finding the winner on his club's
home ground when he fizzed a strike over Subasic's crossbar,
before play was halted due to further crowd incidents, which
intensified 20 minutes from time.
With smoke engulfing San Siro and ugly scenes in the stands, the
players were brought off before eventually finishing the match.
Perisic then went closest to a winner – dragging a shot narrowly
wide of Buffon's left-hand post following a Croatia break – with
the draw ensuring the sides will sit level on 10 points going into 2015.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.
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