Rome - Hundreds of flights were cancelled and many more were delayed across Italy on Friday during a brief strike by air traffic controllers ... just as Italy was beating Sweden in the Euro 2016 football tournament.
Related: Italy secures place in Round of 16 with late stunner from Eder
Ministers had tried to head off the strike over pension plans, but a court had given it the green light following a notice filed by two unions.
At 1 p.m., just two hours before the match kicked off in the southern French city of Toulouse, many air traffic controllers walked off the job.
They came back to work at 5 p.m., just after the final whistle sounded in a group E match which Italy won 1-0.
On Monday, bus and metro services in Rome slowed to a trickle following a similar strike during the national team's match against Belgium, which Italy won 2-0.
But the country hasn't ground to a complete halt because of the tournament.
According to the AGI news agency, a man whom police had been seeking for more than a year after being sentenced to nine years behind bars over his Mafia connections was arrested on Friday as he watched the opening match of Euro 2016.