The level of attention for the Bari-Brescia match rises. The match, scheduled for tomorrow evening at San Nicola (8.30 pm), will be the decisive crossroads for the future of the Apulian team, which only by winning will ensure the possibility of accessing the survival play-offs. Otherwise there is the risk, far from remote, of saying goodbye to Serie B after only two seasons from the return to the cadet championship following the restart from the amateurs in 2018.
In the city the climate is halfway between tension and resignation. However, the fear of possible unrest in the event of a sporting tragedy will lead, as anticipated in recent days, to an increase in safety measures. A meeting is expected today and the details of the public order service system, prepared on the basis of an order from the Police Commissioner, should be clearer, as happens for every home match.
The feeling is that we are moving towards a strengthening of the garrison of men outside the stadium, through the use of territorial and ministerial forces. The directives of the GOS, which met last Tuesday, will be followed on the basis of the indications provided by the National Observatory on Sports Events. In the determination of May 2nd, the body of the Ministry of the Interior suggested the adoption of the following measures: sale of vouchers for the guest sector only to residents of the province of Brescia (loyal to Brescia football); the strengthening of services also in pre-filtering and filtering activities and the implementation of the stewarding service. The hope is that everything goes smoothly, regardless of the outcome of the pitch.
The increase in security measures is probably also the effect of the latest news episodes, which testify to the incandescent climate around the red and white environment. Above all, the threats and intimidation against President De Laurentiis, which led the police to assign him an escort, and the serious events after Cittadella-Bari, which involved the sporting director Ciro Polito.
The incident, which occurred on Sunday evening around 9pm in a motorway service station in Occhiobello, on the A13, is taking on the contours of a “mystery”: Digos is continuing its investigations to ascertain the dynamics of the “aggression” suffered by Polito by a group of fans, as reported in an official statement from SSC Bari, and to identify those responsible. The manager of the technical area would have been the victim of pushes and slaps in the bathrooms of the service station, at the height of a heated argument over the crisis of the Apulian team. But so far no complaint has been submitted to the Rovigo Police Headquarters by the Neapolitan sports director. According to sources from the Venetian Police Headquarters itself, without a complaint from one party, the risk, by virtue of the specific nature of the crime in question, is that it will lead to non-prosecution. In fact, unless the Rovigo Prosecutor’s Office, which coordinates the investigations, identifies more serious crimes, there is a risk that the entire affair will be covered up.
