Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro said on Tuesday that seeing TV pictures of soccer fans rioting in Italian cities on Sunday made him feel ''lucky'' to play abroad.
Cannavaro, who led the national team to its triumph in last year's World Cup, called on clubs and the state to take rapid, decisive action to save the honour of Italian soccer in the eyes of the world.
The 32-year-old defender, who currently plays for Real Madrid, said it was ''hard'' being an Italian in Spain when television news kept showing hardcore fans of Italian clubs clashing with police.
''People think we're all like that,'' he said from the national team's training ground in Florence, where players are preparing for Saturday's Euro 2008 qualifier against Scotland.
''It gives the impression of a society where things are out of control, where anyone can stop a match and street gangs attack police stations,'' he continued.
Praising the untroubled atmosphere in Spanish soccer, Cannavaro put much of the blame for the violence in Italian sport on clubs, saying they should distance themselves more from the hardcore fans, or 'ultras'.
He also called on the government to ''act quickly'', welcoming the decision to suspend matches in Serie B and C for a week as a much needed ''signal''.
''I'm a lucky guy. I'm lucky because I don't play in Italy, but in a championship where you get to play every Sunday, families go to the match, a referee can make a mistake and it ends there. And fans are just fans''.
''We just can't manage the sport properly, neither the clubs nor the state. They should shoulder their responsibilities and do something - quickly''.
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