Cúper praying for injured fan

Internazionale FC coach Héctor Cúper has spoken of his shock after a supporter suffered serious injury by falling nearly 20 metres from the second tier of a San Siro stand during the club's UEFA Cup defeat of AEK Athens on Thursday.

Emergency surgery
The fan, 22-year-old Luca Volpini, plunged from the second tier of the famous stadium on to another supporter, who has also been hospitalised, celebrating Inter's third goal in a 3-1 fourth round first-leg victory. He underwent emergency surgery on Friday morning, and is feared to have fractured his skull and damaged spinal vertebrae.

'Game takes second place'
"The game takes second place," said Cúper on Thursday. "Just now it's more important to pray for this lad, so that he is soon out of danger and can get better".

Scorer shocked by incident
Nicola Ventola, who scored the third goal, said of the incident: "From the moment that happened the football match was over." Javier Zanetti, captain of the Nerazzurri, added: "We hope the supporter recovers very soon. It wasn't easy to play under those psychological conditions."