The presumed Serbian ringleader of the football-related violence that disrupted a Euro 2012 qualifying match in Genoa on Tuesday has issued an apology to Italy.

Ivan Bogdanov – dubbed in the Italian press as ‘The Beast’ and ‘The Man in Black’ – told his lawyer that his was a protest aimed against the Serbian Football Federation, ANSA reported.

Bogdanov, a Red Star Belgrade fan, was arrested following a police search after the Italy-Serbia match was abandoned due to the crowd trouble.

Serbian fans had thrown flares and bangers onto the pitch and at rival Italy supporters.

Some had also tried to break down a barrier separating them from Italy fans while both before and after the game they clashed with police.

Inside the stadium, Bogdanov had climbed on a security fence from where he led disruptive behaviour, taunting police, throwing flares and inciting his fellow Serb hooligans.

But now he has asked for forgiveness. “I want to apologise to Italians. We never wanted to damage Italy which is a country I like a lot. It wasn’t my country but it’s beautiful,” he said from the Pontedecimo prison in Genoa.

“It was a protest against the Serbian Football Federatione.”

Bogdanov added that the Serb fans’ anger was directed against goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic for having “betrayed” Red Star.

Stojkovic used to play for Red Star but now turns out for their bitter rivals Partizan Belgrade, on loan from Sporting Lisbon in Portugal.

He suffered a terrifying attack before the game when a flare was thrown at him inside the team bus.

Matches between the two Belgrade teams often suffer from fan violence.

Bogdanov was one of 17 Serb fans arrested in Italy following the trouble while another 19 were arrested on their return to Serbia.

19 fans detained

Police detained 19 fans upon their return from Italy after Tuesday’s clashes in Genoa, a minister said yesterday.

“So far, 529 fans returned to the country and 169 of them had previous police records,” Interior Minister Ivica Dacic told B92 radio.

Nineteen of those fans had been detained, Dacic said, adding that they were to be taken before an investigative judge.

Dacic promised a thorough police probe into the incidents, urging judicial authorities to speed up their actions against suspected hooligans.

Media reported that the buses carrying Serbian fans from Italy had been checked for over five hours on entering Serbia.

Serbia’s National Security Council, the top security body, was directly supervising the operation.

Serbia and Italy have blamed each other for security failures to prevent the riots before and during the match in northern Italian town Genoa that was aborted on Tuesday after just six minutes due to Serbian fans throwing flares onto the pitch and at rival Italy supporters.