Sport

Crowd trouble mars Italy-Croatia draw

UEFA look set to launch an investigation into the crowd trouble which marred Italy's Euro 2016 Group H qualifier against Croatia, which was halted after flares were thrown onto the pitch at the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium.

Antonio Candreva had put the Azzurri ahead on 11 minutes, but that was quickly cancelled out when Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi

Buffon fumbled a shot from Ivan Perisic (15) over the line.

Flares were then thrown onto the field by the Croatia fans, with a hold-up before play was able to be resumed.

The atmosphere continued to be hostile into the second half, and on 70 minutes Dutch referee Bjorn Kuipers took the players off after more flares landed on the pitch, with Italian riot police going into the Croatia fans to try to restore order.

Following a stoppage of around 12 minutes, the match eventually restarted, and Croatia spurned a great chance to win the tie when Perisic dragged his shot wide after being put away down the left.

Croatia are ahead of Italy on goal difference with both teams level on 10 points from four matches and facing possible sanctions once Uefa have compiled all the necessary reports.

The early kick off in Group H saw Norway pick up a valuable 1-0 win away to Azerbaijan through a first-half header by Havard Nordtveit.

The Czech Republic moved clear at the top of Group A after they beat Iceland 2-1 in Plzen to main a 100 per cent record.

Holland had ealier trashed Latvia 6-0 in Amsterdam as their Euro 2016 Group A qualifying campaign finally kicked into life.

Israel leapfrogged Wales at the top of Group B after an impressive 3-0 win over Bosnia-Herzogovina in Haifa, with goals from Gil Vermouth (36), Omer Damari (45) and Eran Zahavi (70).

Bulgaria were held to a 1-1 draw by minnows Malta in Sofia.