How disappointing.
Also there were fears of incidents with the local fans because of their political affiliations.
The Livorno end do have a reputation for their active involvement in left wing politics and their hard-core fans regard themselves as Stalinists (they even display banners in cyrillic at home and away games) showing more common points to their German equivalent that is St Pauli with all the consequences that you may imagine !
And on the days before the game there were attempts mainly by Celtic fans to stir up things by accusing Rangers fans of being fascist because of the red hand salute. It is fair to say that most Livorno fans rejected these provocative messages and invited the Scottish fans for a few beers in their own city.
And that's what happened.
I arrived by train on day of game and after checking in in my hotel I joined the guys from the Louden Tavern who had just arrived in the main square of Livorno after spending the previous night in Pisa.
After having lunch in a good pizzeria nearby we set base in the Don Chisciotte, a bar in the centre of Livorno, which was already full of Bears looking for a pre-match drinking session and had turned it into a blue oasis.
Despite the alcohol ban the owner served beer no problem and was delighted of the good behaviour shown by the Scottish fans.
'It always should be like this, friendly fans are always welcome here, Rangers fans are great, I wish Italian fans could be the same, unfortunately here there's a lot of violence in football.' he said, while loyalist songs were being played in the bar stereo set.
And he was more than happy to help us find the right direction to the ground.
Most of the Rangers fans spent the day in Pisa so the main square was empty apart from a small contingent who had stayed overnight in the city.
The weather didn't help much and most of the Rangers supporters preferred to take shelter from the rain in bars rather than gather in the square as usual.
At about six we moved to the stadium where other fans coming mainly from Pisa and the airport were being ferried from the station.
The Livorno stadium is a typical Italian ground with the athletic track between the terraces and the pitch, the view is not that great but I've been in worse places.
The ground capacity is only 20.000 so it's not impressive at all and being the terraces far from the pitch the atmosphere is not as hot as it could be in other stadium.
Their ultras don't display banners anymore and with such a weather they were pretty quiet. Just to confirm their political affiliation they displayed a palestinian flag and a banner against politicians and journalists accused of being 'false moralists'. They also complained with the local council which had planned to offer typical local dishes to Scottish fans visiting the city with a banner reading more or less 'you offer the 'caciucco' - a local dish - by wasting public money'.
Under the pelting rain Rangers played a great first half and controlled the second half by conceding a late goal by Lucarelli, the most popular player amongst Livorno fans since he's never hidden is political left wing affiliation.
The game finished in triumph, we were soaked but nevertheless jubilant for a result which can be of paramount importance for this season's Rangers euro campaign.
Luckily no troubles occurred, the city of Livorno gave a friendly welcome to Rangers fans and as I was told by many fans there was a lot of scarf swapping before the match, the only hassle coming at the end of the game from a small group of moron next to the Rangers section who waving a red USSR flag tried to set fire to a Rangers banner with a flare but were quickly dealt with by a group of Bears who kept them at bay with their umbrellas.
Bad losers are everywhere !
Once again Rangers fans confirmed to be great, friendly and well behaved fans despite the bad publicity coming from the usual republican-minded journalists.
The recent Uefa threats are just an example of how a club is persecuted because of prejudice spread over the years by republican propaganda.
Uefa should consider Rangers fans positive record abroad and if they really wanted to stamp out sectarianism they'd better check the so-called Irish folk songs sung by Celtic fans in praise of the IRA.
Now let's hope to get more positive results and qualify for the next round, Rangers can make it.
Fabrizio