A Germany fan missed the hosts' Euro 2024 tournament opener against Scotland on Friday after his hand was broken by a wayward shot from German striker Niclas Fullkrug during the warm-up.
Kai Flathmann was sitting to the side of the German goal ahead of his team's 5-1 demolition of Scotland when he was hit on the hand by an effort from Fuellkrug which went wide of the target.
"I have no words, crazy things," he said on social media, posting a picture of him in hospital with his arm bandaged and in a sling.
"Bild (newspaper) is now reporting on this unfortunate incident and the German FA have been in touch with me as well." he said.
He told the newspaper he only managed to catch the teams' anthems while being stretchered out of the stands, missing Germany's opening triumph in which Fuellkrug also scored.
Fighting broke out among fans inside the Dortmund BVB Stadion before the Euro 2024 match between Turkey and Georgia on Tuesday afternoon.
Around 40 fans from each set of supporters were involved in the brief scuffles and police moved in between them, a Reuters reporter inside the stadium said.
Tens of thousands of Turkey fans draped in the country's red flag had earlier celebrated ahead of the country's first match of Euro 2024 in Dortmund on Tuesday, creating a festival atmosphere akin to a host nation to welcome the team.
Almost 3 million people with Turkish roots live in Germany, following a wave of official migration that began in the 1960s.
The close ties are reflected in both the German and Turkish football teams. Germany captain Ilkay Gundogan has Turkish roots, while Turkey's midfielder Salih Ozcan, was born in Cologne and plays for Borussia Dortmund.
Ozcan has said the team needs to capitalise on the large Turkish population and passionate support in Germany.
Heavy rain and forecasts of thunder storms closed Dortmund's 25,000 capacity fan zone and other giant viewing spots in the cities of North Rhine Westphalia, Germany's most populous state, but fans en route to the stadium made good on their promise to make some noise. Berlin's two fan zones were also closed due to bad weather.
"Our hearts beat for Turkey, for home. Of course Germany is also home for us but we are Turks," said fan Cengiz Catalpinar.
Mehmet Guelcicek had driven for two days from Zurich in Switzerland to reach Dortmund and watch the match.
"We are Turks and always there with the team."
Croatia's attacking midfielder Nikola Vlasic has been ruled out of the rest of Euro 2024 with a muscle injury, the Croatian FA said today.
Vlasic, who played no part in Croatia's opening 3-0 Group B defeat to Spain on Saturday, will leave the camp ahead of their second game against Albania on Wednesday.
"I'm extremely sorry that this new injury will prevent me from helping the team. I've done everything possible to be ready, and I'd like to thank the head coach and the coaching staff for the opportunity. I believe in this team and I'm sure they will succeed - I'll be their biggest fan!", Vlasic said in a Croatian FA statement on X.
The injury is a blow for Croatia, whose hopes of making it out of a tough group were already damaged following their comprehensive defeat to Spain.
With Italy still to come in their final group match, anything less than three points against Albania will leave Zlatko Dalic's side, who reached the World Cup final in 2018 and last four in Qatar two years ago, facing the prospect of an early exit.
"Nikola invested a lot of effort to help the team at the Euro 2024, and he is an integral part of the squad. Unfortunately, this second injury happened, and I can only thank him for everything he's done here," said Dalic.
Tw: Italianophobia
— kos_data (@kos_data) June 15, 2024
Albanian fans snapped spaghetti in front of Italian fans ahead of the Italy-Albania Euro 2024 match. pic.twitter.com/7c3c5rByOI
First it was Albanian fans taunting their Italian rivals by snapping uncooked spaghetti in front of them.
Then the Austrians followed suit, breaking baguettes in the faces of French fans before their Euro 2024 clash.
Fans flocking to Germany for the month-long tournament are entertaining themselves with good-natured "food wars" looking every bit as spicy as the games themselves.
As well as the desecration of national foods in the streets - which has sparked more laughter than outrage - food banners are springing up in stadiums.
"Fondue better than goulash" read one at Switzerland v Hungary. "Eat Pasta, Run Fasta," said an Italian poster at the Albanian game. And "Kielbasa (sausage) better than gouda," boasted Polish fans against the Netherlands.
The food insults have, however, so far proved a bad omen.
Albania lost 2-1 to Italy after their pasta-breaking and Austria were beaten 1-0 by the baguette-loving French.
Host nation Germany is counting its blessings that widely-feared hooligan trouble has been minimal, with more snapped pasta and bread than broken bones and bottles.
"Thank God the violence has not been there. Instead we're seeing a lot of fun and banter between fans like these hilarious 'food wars'," said food stall-holder Roland Koch in Hamburg.
"Just don't mess with our 'currywurst' - or else then there will be trouble, I warn you!," he added, referring to the ubiquitous sausage and spicy sauce on sale at his kiosk and seemingly every other street corner in Germany.
Half-time: 🇧🇪 0-1 🇸🇰
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) June 17, 2024
Another bad miss from Lukaku, who could have had a hat-trick already. Not his or Belgium's day so far
📺 Watch live @rte2 and @rteplayerhttps://t.co/iUQJmJIhT6 #Euro2024 pic.twitter.com/ffK8893Ike
Belgium's most capped international Jan Vertonghen, who is hoping for return to the side this weekend, is backing long-time team mate Romelu Lukaku to excel at the European Championship despite his profligate performance on Monday.
Lukaku missed several good chances in a shock 1-0 loss to Slovakia in Frankfurt, although he did twice put the ball in the net.
The first was ruled offside and the second chalked off after a VAR check for a handball in the build-up, denying Belgium a late equaliser.
Belgium meet Romania on Saturday in Cologne in their second Group E game.
"I've a lot of confidence in Romelu, especially mentally wise and quality wise. He loves these moments when the pressure, and the focus, is on him and on Saturday I'm sure he will find the way to go," said the 37-year-old Vertonghen, who has recovered from injury.
"You can have the best finishing in training but in the games the pressure is there and the opponents put their bodies on the line, but we have all the qualities in the team to recover.
"I would be more worried if we didn't have the quality, so I'm confident we will score on Saturday."
Vertonghen has played most of his 154 caps alongside 31-year-old Lukaku, who has netted a record 85 times in 116 internationals.
"Obviously, the team is very disappointed after yesterday's result," Vertonghen said today.
"You always want the first game at a tournament to take the pressure away a bit but now the pressure is probably even more and that's why we're disappointed. We're not disappointed in the way we played, or the chances we created or the way we defended."
Vertonghen does not think the team should try to play any differently.
"That would be a mistake in my opinion. Obviously, the easy answer is to score goals and avoid conceding any. But yeah, the mindset is key, to attack and then to win and to keep doing what we've been doing for the previous 15 matches," he said of Belgium’s unbeaten run before Monday’s loss.
Watch every game from Euro 2024 on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player as well as highlights and goals as they happen on RTÉ Sport digital platforms
