Bah. The Russians (despite their vast experience in such matters) are arguing with the wind.
I was lucky enough to score some tickets to the 1977 European Championship in Rome. Cardinal4 wasn’t allowed to go, due to his youth. Liverpool was playing Borussia Monchengladbach. The Roman cops had to line off neutral buffer zones between the Brits and the Germans. We were treated to an excellent game, which Liverpool won 3-1. Had Borussia won, it might have been a different story with a lot more bloodshed. When the Liverpudlians arrived in bus convoys, they were still drunk from their English FA Cup victory the previous Saturday. Days later, the Roman police were still rounding up staggering Liverudlians, dragging them out of the many Bernini fountains throughout the city and busing them to the British Consulate for repatriation.