ROME (AP)—An American and Manchester United fan were hospitalized after
being stabbed Wednesday ahead of the Champions League final. Fifteen people,
including United and Barcelona supporters, were arrested.

Four Italians were arrested in Ostia, on the coast near Rome, after they
attacked an American, apparently mistaking the 23-year-old man for a United
supporter. The man was beaten up and stabbed in his thigh and backside and
hospitalized in serious condition, police said.

A United fan was stabbed in the thigh, police said. The fan told
investigators that four attackers who spoke Spanish attacked him near his
hotel in the Vatican area. He was discharged from the hospital later
Wednesday.

Hospital officials and police do not identify the victims for privacy reasons.

Up to 50,000 United and Barcelona supporters converged on Rome for the match
Wednesday night. Thousands of law enforcement officials have been deployed
around the Olympic Stadium and the city center, at airports and subway stops.
Others were guarding Rome’s monuments and artistic treasures.

Three Barcelona fans were arrested after police searched their car and found
blunt objects, including clubs and a javelin, police said. They were
traveling from Civitavecchia, a port near Rome where hundreds of Spanish fans
had arrived by ship.

Two United fans were arrested for assaulting bystanders and police in Campo
de Fiori, a historic piazza and popular tourist hangout. Police said the men
were drunk despite a ban on alcohol sales imposed by authorities in areas
including the city center and near the stadium.

The ANSA news agency said two United fans were arrested for trying to pay at
the posh Cafe de Paris with counterfeit money.

Hundreds attended Pope Benedict XVI’s public audience at the Vatican, waving
their flags and scarves before the pontiff. The match referee, Massimo
Busacca of Switzerland, greeted the pope at the end of the audience.

Some 67,000 people packed the stadium for the match. VIPs include the Spanish
royals and Britain’s Prince William, who was invited by the English Football
Association as the organization’s president; Spanish Prime Minister Jose
Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, an avid Barcelona fan, and Italian Premier Silvio
Berlusconi.

Associated Press Writers Daniela Petroff contributed to this report from the
Vatican, Raymond Carlson in Rome.
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