A bit late but

Supporters of Italian club Juventus upset their Liverpool counterparts after disgraceful scenes before and during the two teams' Champions League clash. Although their propensity for dying unnecessarily at football matches already marks them for international shame, the Italian fans' latest behaviour represents a new low.

In an attempt to make up for some residual bad feeling between the sides - thought by locals to stem from Italian guilt resulting from the unjustified penalty awarded to Juventus when the two sides last played back in 1985 - Liverpool officials had pulled out all the stops to create an atmosphere of goodwill.

As well as handing out cards to every Juventus fan entering the ground declaring "We Forgive You", each one also received a goody bag containing a reconstituted meat pie, a pair of tickets to Beatle World (not valid during captain Phil Neal's autobiography Standing Tall Not Kneeling Down - Reminiscences of a Footballing Colossus.

Just before the game began some of the survivors of the Liverpool charge into Block Z at Heysel unfurled a huge banner for the benefit of the away supporters. It read "Tiramisu", and a Liverpool official later explained that this should have been the Italian word for friendship but that no one at the club knew any other words "in Wop".

The atmosphere of goodwill was summed up by one Liverpool fan making his way to the Kop: "I think the club have done an amazing job," he enthused. "It just shows how much we Scousers care - even about a bunch of spaghetti-munchers." Another added: "I was in tears. This sort of recognition of the of the past leading to reconciliation are essential. The 1985 final should never have gone ahead, and therefore the game should be replayed or the cup awarded to us."

However, a section of the Juventus fans turned their back on the peace offering before the game and heckled during the minute's silence marking the 1980 slaying of John Lennon. The Italians also failed to cheer the Reds' deserved victory.

"What next, for God's sake?" sobbed one Liverpudlian distraught at having the Scouse peace offering thrown back in his face. "First Hillsborough, then Jimmy Tarbuck moves to Surrey and now this. Will the pain never end?"