Italy is the land of divisions: North vs. South; left vs. right; religious vs. secular.
In soccer, perhaps no division is as bitter as the one between fans of the two Rome teams, AS Roma and Lazio. Now, a dispute between the two teams over a crucial match Sunday has spilled into politics and become a national case.
On Sunday night, Lazio lost 2-0 at home to Inter Milan, the club that is locked in a fight with Roma for the Serie A title. Lazio fans packing the Stadio Olimpico cheered, happy to have hurt Roma's chances to win the title. Lazio drew accusations of being unsportsmanlike and handing Inter an easy victory in order to deliberately hurt Roma.
Comments on Monday ranged from ``farce'' to ``shame'' to ``embarrassing.''
``Inter: It's easy that way,'' said Rome daily Il Messaggero. ``Lazio surrenders without a fight.''
``Surreal Match,'' wrote La Gazzetta dello Sport in a front-page editorial.
``Those who love sports, not just football, cannot celebrate in seeing Lazio's quiet obedience to its fans, who wanted it to lose,'' Italy's largest sports daily wrote.
The status of the two teams is very different this season: Roma is a contender for the scudetto, battling neck-and-neck with four-time defending champion Inter; Lazio is fighting to avoid relegation to the lower division.
However, Lazio got to have a say in the fight for the title.
It lost to Roma in a highly-anticipated, tense derby last month. It got its revenge Sunday night in the crucial match with Inter.
A Lazio victory would have kept Roma - which had already won its match the day before - atop the standings. The loss put Inter on top again, with a two-point lead with only two games remaining.
Untouched by the criticism, Lazio fans celebrated in the stadium when Inter scored. They showed banners that mocked Roma, with one saying: ``Scudetto: Game Over.'' Some even celebrated in the streets of the capital, the way fans do when their team actually wins.
Roma president Rosella Sensi said she ``would be ashamed to win that way.''
Inter president Massimo Moratti brushed the controversy aside, simply saying: ``It's a problem between Roma and Lazio, it doesn't concern Inter.''
But he did concede: ``The crowd was completely with us and that was a very odd situation.''
The tensions are likely to be high when Roma and Inter meet in the Italian Cup final on Wednesday.
However, the dispute has transcended sports.
Politicians were quick to react Monday, and for once their opinions didn't follow the traditional left vs. right divide- but rather their soccer allegiances.
Some lawmakers said they were seeking a parliamentary investigation lamenting the fact that games are held at different times. They said this affects a race that is down to the wire.
The dispute even reached the spokesman for Premier Silvio Berlusconi's party, Daniele Capezzone, who called on team executives and players alike ``to provide convincing explanations of what happened.''
Berlusconi, a soccer enthusiast and owner of Serie A team AC Milan, has not publicly commented.
The rivalry between teams in Italy can be ferocious.
Lazio president Paolo Lotito said Monday that prior to the match he had received an envelope with bullets and death threats in case his team did not beat Inter, the ANSA news agency reported. Lotito said Lazio had nothing to apologize for, according to ANSA.
After the last Roma-Lazio derby in April, seven fans have been injured, some suffering knife wounds, in clashes between supporters of the two teams after the game. When the clubs met in December, the game was suspended for nearly 10 minutes during the first half due to firecrackers exploding in the stands.
In 2004, the derby was stopped three minutes into the second half when a false rumor spread through the stadium that police had killed a boy outside the stadium, sparking riots.
