Manchester City exile Joe Hart faces Torino baptism of fire when he makes Serie A debut following shock loan move
Goalkeeper was frozen out by new boss Pep Guardiola and will now experience Atalanta's fearsome fans this weekend
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JOE HART will face a baptism of fire on Sunday when he makes his Serie A debut in front of Italy’s most fearsome fans.
The England keeper is used to the glitz, glamour and state-of-the-art stadiums of the Premier League.
But he will find himself in an entirely different world when he turns out for loan club Torino at Atalanta.
Based in Bergamo at the foot of the Alps, Atalanta are seen as the country’s version of Millwall.
They play at the Stadio Atleti Azzurri d’Italia, a throwback to the 1980s both in terms of the crumbling stadium and its notorious ultras on the Curva Nord.
Giant mesh fences are in place behind both goals — but they will still not stop supporters who, in the past, have still attempted to throw metal tent spikes, stones, bottles and half-eaten food at the visiting goalkeeper.
Against Bologna a couple of years ago, home fans set off firecrackers each time a corner was taken in a bid to distract the opposition defence.
Hooligan problems which have dogged Atalanta for decades have improved due to a heavy police presence and a number of banning orders — but trouble has not always been far away.
The most recent incident came earlier this year after a 1-1 draw with Inter Milan, when ten Atalanta ultras were arrested following violent clashes in the streets of this pretty city.
In 2014, hooligans tried to attack a bus containing Roma fans but cops intervened and a riot ensued.
The fans threw sticks, bolts, fire extinguishers and a paper ‘bomb’ with nails, which put four wounded officers in hospital and left two police cars wrecked.
The same year, about 70 ultras tried to ambush Juventus fans who were heading home. Incredibly, nobody was hurt.
Atalanta were also fined £32,000 in May 2014 after bananas were thrown at AC Milan players by fans. Not for the first time, the Italian league warned the Curva Nord could be shut, something which has happened in the past.
Other infamous fights involving Atalanta fans were with Milan supporters in 2012 and Catania in 2009.
A bit like at Millwall, or other clubs where fans have a chequered history, the players rarely speak out.
But, unbelievably, Giulio Migliaccio went the other way in a bid to win over fans when he joined Atalanta in 2013.
The midfielder joined supporters on a tank which drove over two cars painted in the colours of the club’s arch-rivals — Brescia and Roma — during a street festival. Migliacci realised his massive mistake and made an instant apology.
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He said: “I was inadvertently the protagonist. In a party atmosphere, in among a huge crowd of fans including lots of women and children, I was invited on board a tank.
“I certainly could not have imagined that we would have crushed two cars taken from the scrapyard.
“I only realised when we were already going over them and since I could not see — I was high up and at the back — I did not know that they had the symbols of two football clubs on them. I’m very sorry about the incident.”
The role of the ultra in Italy is weird. They cause lots of trouble, yet still have close ties to their clubs and even raise money for local causes.
Atalanta hooligan Claudio ‘II’ Bocia Galimberti is something of a local celebrity, even though he was banned from going near the ground for five years.
He said: “In Bergamo, they’re acting as if we’re the only problem in the city. During the last few years we’re losing hope, because we’re getting caged as if we’ve done something horrible.
"Our basic rights are taken from us. There are also some serious fights sometimes. It’s inevitable.”
Equally, Hart’s new club Torino have a small but frightening firm of trouble-makers.
But the Manchester City outcast, 29, is unlikely to have any problems at their Stadio Olimpico.
Instead, Hart needs to focus and prove boss Pep Guardiola hopelessly wrong for allowing him to leave on loan.
His first mission is to keep a clean sheet at Atalanta. If he makes any mistakes like he did at Euro 2016, then he will certainly hear about it from the noisy mob behind him.