“My knee hurt, but the problem was inside me! Suspending the match for something like that didn't seem fair at all”
Article by Daniel Scorpie – Published on Tuesday, 03 February 2026, 11:07 / Updated on Tuesday, 03 February 2026 11:12
Inter won the match with Cremonese on Sunday (2-0), but could pay heavily for the reprehensible gesture of a supporter. The firecracker thrown into the field, from the sector occupied by the Nerazzurri fans, only interrupted the game. Emil Audero chose not to ask for a change, although he suffered, acting differently than Florin Lovin did, in the Rapid – Steaua match in the spring of 2008.
The unfortunate incident occurred in the 50th minute of the game at the “Giovanni Zini” stadiumat a time when Emil Audero was the only player in the home team's box. The firecracker was thrown from the sector occupied by Inter supporters and exploded a short distance from the Cremonese goalkeeper.
Audero was visibly affected by the deafening noise produced and required medical attention. After a few minutes, he managed to continue the game, but the goalkeeper was left with a small cut on his leg and a clear burn mark, exactly in the area where the explosion took place.
Florin Lovin played three times in the Champions League groups / photo: GSP
Hit in 2008 by a lighter thrown by the fans of the home team, Lovin convinced the referee to stop the match Rapid – Steaua!
18 years ago, in Giulesti, with the score 1-0 for Rapid (with the goal of Cristian Săpunaru) in the 74th minute, a lighter, thrown from a sector occupied by the home fans, radically changed the fate of the game and the fight for the title.
Florin Lovin became the main target of the Rapid supporters and the most persistent star player next to the referee Alexandru Deaconu, trying to get him to stop the match.
“I'm sorry for them, but I don't want to play it again. Everyone accused me of not being a man, but I prove my manhood in a different way, in the family.” declared the midfielder then.
Emil Audero: “Inside me, I didn't think about giving up”
Emil Audero showed his manhood by facing the adversity of the Nerazzurri fans. And he did not abandon his team, although he could think of a possible success on the “green table” for his side, in great crisis, in front of the leaders of Serie A!
“Why didn't I go out? First of all, adrenaline drove me to continue. But you also do it because you are on the field, you understand the situation and you don't want it to end like that.
Inside, I didn't think about giving up. Suspending the match for something like that didn't seem fair to me. I knew I could do it, even if something happened after that.” confessed the Italian goalkeeper with Indonesian citizenship in an interview he gave in Gazzetta dello Sport.
I would like to ask the fan who threw the firecracker why? What is your purpose? Support your team or cause trouble? Why did you decide to hurt others and yourself? Explain to me what all this means…
– Emil Auderothe goalkeeper of Cremonese
Emil Audero, the goalkeeper of Cremonese, targeted by Inter supporters // PHOTO: Imago Images
“It had never happened in my career. My head and thoughts were flying… I had a terrible, empty feeling”
Cremonese's goalkeeper also confessed how he experienced the rest of the game: “It's never happened to me before in my career. In the second half, I felt a sense of emptiness. My knee hurt, but the problem was inside me.
We experience a deep sense of disappointment and little desire to play. My wife was worried. Her and my family. I calmed everyone down. But episodes like this really make you think.
I was in the field doing the job I love so much. But meanwhile my thoughts were on the scene of the explosion. A little further and who knows… my hand, my arm or worse. I thought: why am I on the field? why game My head and thoughts were flying. It was a terrible feeling.
