22 November 2012 Last updated at 10:47
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Tottenham fans injured in clashes in Rome
The Drunken Ship bar in Rome Around 100 Italian hooligans attacked Spurs fans in this Rome bar
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A Tottenham Hotspur supporter has been seriously injured and several hurt in clashes with rival fans in Rome.
Spurs are due to play Lazio in the Italian capital later in a Europa League match, and hundreds of their fans are in the city.
The Spurs fan was stabbed at the Drunken Ship bar in the Campo de' Fiori district and is understood to have suffered a serious injury to an artery.
Lazio's "Ultra" hooligan supporters have associations with fascism.
Tottenham have traditionally drawn support from the Jewish community and some Spurs fans refer to themselves as the "Yid Army". Peter Herbert, chairman of the Society of Black Lawyers, recently threatened to report them to the police.
The Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera said at least seven Spurs fans, aged between 20 and 60, had been injured and taken to San Camillo Hospital, Holy Spirit Hospital and Fatebenefratelli. Rome police said five were British, one was from California and one from Bangladesh.
La Repubblica reported "urban warfare" broke out at the bar, with up to 100 "Ultras" attacking Spurs fans.
It said Lazio fans were armed with knives, baseball bats, and knuckle dusters.
Lazio fans Lazio is one of Rome's two top football clubs and has been associated with hooliganism in the past
The owner of the bar, Mario Manzi, told the BBC: "At 1am there were around 30 English fans here, plus some American students, and some Italians.
"At some point, from around the corner, some 40 guys, all wearing helmets, faces covered with scarves, came here, destroyed that window, and came in.
"The English people hid behind here, and everything was destroyed. There were rocks, iron bars, everything."
He said: "The English fans were very calm, they weren't even drunk, then these men with heads covered came barging in throwing cobblestones. They had clubs and metal rods. It lasted about 20 minutes."
The BBC's Rome correspondent, Alan Johnston, said the bar was wrecked and five people were arrested.
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TROUBLE IN ROME
1984: Liverpool fans stabbed by Roma supporters after European Cup Final
2001: Liverpool supporters stabbed in buttocks
2006: Middlesbrough fans attacked, again involving buttock slashing
2007: Manchester United fans face similar attacks on two separate occasions
2009: Man Utd fans attacked again by locals
Nov 2012: Lazio fans attack Spurs supporters
All of them were Italians who the police believe to be Lazio fans.
Rome police said the most seriously injured man was a 25-year-old who was being treated at San Camillo Hospital.
The spokesman said: "A group of about 40 or 50 people in motorcycle helmets or with their faces covered were armed and attacked the group of English football fans drinking in Campo de' Fiori square."
A spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said it was investigating and would provide consular assistance.
Spurs and Lazio played out a goalless draw in September in a game which was marred by racist chanting by some Lazio fans.
Mousa Dembele Spurs and Lazio played out a goalless draw in London in September
Tottenham defender Steven Caulker and his manager Andre Villas-Boas, speaking before the clashes, both voiced their hope that Thursday's game would not be overshadowed by by monkey chants.
Caulker said: "I'm not worried about the atmosphere - I hope football does the talking. Italy is a great footballing country. Hopefully that will be the talking point."
Villas-Boas agreed but said he felt the £32,500 fine imposed on Lazio for the chanting at White Hart Lane in September may not be a deterrent.
Lazio was the favourite club of the fascist leader Benito Mussolini and in the past has attracted bad publicity. In 2005 Paolo Di Canio, then a Lazio player, was criticised for repeatedly making a fascist salute.
Di Canio, who is now manager of Swindon Town, met Italian survivors of the Holocaust the following year and said: "Racism is a terrible thing and violence never solved anything".
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