Italy awaits update after Northern Ireland bomb blast
Italy will wait for further information regarding their European Championship qualifier against Northern Ireland after a bomb exploded in Derry on Tuesday morning.
The Italian squad will travel to Belfast on Thursday, but the Italian Football Federation will wait to see if it is safe to travel to Northern Ireland before they leave.
The IFF will look for a guarantee from FIFA before they fly to Belfast.
The Real IRA has claimed responsibility for the bombing, which occurred shortly after midnight Tuesday morning, on October 5. The device was left in a Vauxhall Corsa car outside the Ulster Bank in Derry.
A number of properties and buildings were damaged, but no one was injured. The Police Service of Northern Ireland received a warning prior to the explosion and had time to evacuate the local residents.
The Northern Ireland game will be held at Windsor Park in Belfast, but the police are expected to heighten security after the blast as a precaution.
The IFF’s head of security operations, Roberto Massucci, will travel with the Italian squad, and will be in contact with the police regarding the best way to handle the security operation.
The Italian coach, Cesare Prandelli, mentioned that his team knew of the bombing and were waiting on news from the IFF.
"We are trying to understand what the situation is. We are calm, although we were calmer yesterday," said Prandelli.
The Group C match is due to kick-off on Friday evening, and as it stands there are no plans to move or reschedule the game. Currently, Italy top the group with six points after two games, but Northern Ireland has started the campaign well and won their first
game away to Slovenia 1-0.
The match on Friday will be Northern Ireland’s second game in the qualifiers if the game goes ahead as expected.
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