Hooligans cast a shadow over Tuesday's round of Euro 2012 qualifiers as violence caused Italy's Group C match against Serbia in Genoa to be called off because of serious crowd trouble, dpa reported.
Scottish referee Craig Thomson called the game off after just seven minutes as Serbian fans threw flares and fireworks on the pitch at the Luigi Ferraris stadium.
The match had already been delayed for over half an hour after Serbian fans clashed with police while Serbian national RTS reported that goalkeeper Dejan Stojkovic had to be defended by his team-mates as hooligans with torches tried to reach him.
Italy coach Cesare Prandelli, meanwhile, expressed his dismay at the events.
"I've never seen anything like this," he said.
Italy are likely to be awarded an automatic 3-0 win as a result of the trouble, but the Italian football federation could face a heavy fine for failing to control the fans.
In other Group C matches, Slovenia won 1-0 in Estonia to draw level with Italy on seven points while the Faroe Islands earned their first point of the campaign with a 1-1 draw at home to Northern Ireland.
World champions Spain had to dig deep to win away to spirited Scotland in Group I as substitute Fernando Llorente's volley 11 minutes from time ensured a 3-2 win for Vicente Del Bosque's side.
Spain looked to be cruising when goals from David Villa and Andres Iniesta put the visitors 2-0 up, only for Scotland to surprisingly hit back with a header from Steven Naismith and an own goal from Gerard Pique.
Spain have a maximum nine points from three games, three more than second-placed Czech Republic, who beat Liechtenstein 2-0 away.
Villa - whose goal equals the all-time Spain record of 44 held by Raul Gonzalez - said that "this was a very important win for us, and it shows that we have character."
Scotland - who had defender Steven Whittaker sent off at the end - are third in the group with just four points.
Germany remain on track for qualification from Group A with an away victory in Kazakhstan.
Joachim Loew's side enjoyed a 3-0 win in their encounter in Astana, a result that gives Germany a maximum 12 points from four games, five clear of Austria, who have a game in hand.
In a thrilling game in which the Austrians were reduced to 10 men in the 68th minute when Peter Scharner was sent off for foolishly head-butting an opponent who then fell on the referee, the home-side turned a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 lead in the last four minutes before Martin Harnik scored an injury-time equalizer for the visitors.
Turkey are six points behind Germany after crashing 1-0 in Baku to a 39th minute goal from Rashad Farhad Sadygov.
All three of Germany's goals were scored in the second half with Miroslav Klose opening the scoring in the 48th minute to register his third goal in two games. Substitute Mario Gomez added a second in the 78th and Lukas Podolski put the final touch to the game five minutes from the end.
Coach Loew said that he was pleased with the result although he was slightly disappointed with the way his team played.
"We achieved what we wanted to do, but obviously some errors occurred," he said.
"We have a lead at the top and that is comfortable, but we still need to win a few games before we can plan for the finals."
Montenegro remain the surprise leaders of Group G after holding England to a 0-0 draw at Wembley.
The draw preserves Zlatko Kranjcar's unbeaten record in qualifiers, both as manager of Montenegro and Croatia, and leaves his side with 10 points from four games.
England, having played a game less, are three points further back, but the sense of satisfaction that followed their opening wins over Bulgaria and Switzerland has begun to fade.
"They hit the bar late on, but until then we were on the front foot trying to create chances," said captain Rio Ferdinand.
"You want to please the manager you want to please the fans but it just wasn't to be today."
Switzerland kept their hopes of challenging England and Montenegro alive with a 4-1 victory against Wales.
Russia top Group B after winning 1-0 in Macedonia through Aleksandr Kerzhakov's eighth minute goal. The home side had a golden opportunity to level matters but Ilco Naumoski failed to convert from the spot.
Also missing a penalty on the night was Ireland's Robbie Keane in his side's 1-1 draw in Slovakia. The results see both Ireland and Slovakia move on to seven points alongside Armenia, who enjoyed a 4-0 win over Andorra.
In Group E, the Netherlands lead the with with 12 points after two goals a piece from Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Ibrahim Afellay ensured a 4-1 win over Sweden. Hungary sit second on nine points after an injury-time winner from Balazs Dzsudzsak secured a 2-1 over Finland.
The other group game saw Moldova win 2-0 in San Marino.
Greece took over the lead of Group F with a hard-fought 2-1 win against Israel while Georgia could only manage a 1-1 draw with Latvia.
In Group D, goals from Vitali Rodionov and substitute Sergei Krivets secured a 2-0 win for Belarus over Albania, who finished the match with 10 men following the injury-time dismissal of Armend Dallku.
The other match in the game saw France beat Luxembourg by the same score.
Goals from Morten Rasmussen and Kasper Lorentzen saw Denmark defeat Cyprus in Group D, where Portugal picked up their second victory of the campaign with a 3-1 win in Iceland.