ROMA HAVE PAID tribute to injured Liverpool fan Sean Cox ahead of their Champions League semi-final second leg.
The Reds fan, from Dunboyne, County Meath, was the victim of fan violence ahead of the first leg last Tuesday, with 53-year-old suffering a brain bleed after being attacked outside Anfield.
Liverpool won the first leg 5-2 but the victory was overshadowed by supporter trouble, which left Cox in critical condition.
Key figures from both sides condemned the violence, with Roma boss Eusebio Di Francesco the latest to criticise the ‘minority’ of Giallorosso supporters involved in the attack.
“Every fanbase has bad elements. It’s always a minority of fans who do these awful things,” Di Francesco said at his pre-match press conference.
“We stand shoulder to shoulder with Sean Cox and his family and we are against any form of violence.”
Roma made their position clear during their training session on Tuesday, as all the squad members wore jerseys emblazoned with “Forza Sean” in tribute to the injured Irishman.
Liverpool paid tribute to Cox at the weekend, hanging a jersey from his local Gaelic Football club, St Peter’s GAA, Dunboyne, in the club’s dressing room before their Premier League game with Stoke.
As well as that, the Reds also displayed a message stating “Sean Cox, You’ll Never Walk Alone” along the advertising hoardings at Anfield.
Over 5,000 Liverpool fans are expected to travel to Rome for the second leg, but 1,200 police have been drafted in to ensure fan safety on Wednesday evening.
Italian police confirmed they would work with their English counterparts, with public order commissioner Giorgio Luciani hopeful there would be no repeats of last week’s violence.
“It’s a terrible episode,” Luciani told BBC Sport. “We are working in synergy with the English police to solve this problem and help them, and vice versa for this match.”
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