43 minutes of silence: Genoa fans honor bridge collapse victims at Serie A fixture
Supporters of Serie A side Genoa watched almost all of the first half of their game with Empoli in near silence to pay tribute to the 43 people who lost their lives in the August 14 bridge collapse in the Italian city.
The game was the first to take place at the city’s Luigi Ferraris Stadium since the disaster, which saw a section of bridge collapse on the motorway connecting the northwestern Italian city with southern France.
A minute’s silence was held before kick-off, followed by applause for the victims and their families. Genoa supporters groups also requested “a deafening silence of 43 minutes, one for each child, worker, student, father or mother who are no longer with us today.”
As such, the game kicked off to almost total silence with only the occasional shouts of the players picked up on the broadcast. There was almost no reaction from the crowd, even when Genoa scored two goals inside the first 20 minutes.
The silence was broken by applause in the 43rd minute when the names of the victims were displayed on screens inside the stadium. Genoa ultimately won the game 2-1.
