CREMONA, Italy (AP) — Inter Milan’s match at Cremonese had to be halted Sunday for a few minutes after home goalkeeper Emil Audero was struck by a flare.
The incident happened at the start of the second half. Play was in the middle of the field when a flare was thrown from the away fans sector into the penalty area, striking Audero.
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Cremonese's goalkeeper Emil Audero lies on the pitch after fans throw a flair towards him during the Serie A soccer match between Cremonese and Inter in Cremona, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 2026. (Alberto Mariani/LaPresse via AP)
Cremonese's goalkeeper Emil Audero lies on the pitch after fans throw a flair towards him during the Serie A soccer match between Cremonese and Inter in Cremona, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 2026. (Alberto Mariani/LaPresse via AP)
Cremonese's goalkeeper Emil Audero lies on the pitch after fans throw a flair towards him during the Serie A soccer match between Cremonese and Inter in Cremona, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 2026. (Alberto Mariani/LaPresse via AP)
Cremonese's goalkeeper Emil Audero lies on the pitch after fans throw a flair towards him during the Serie A soccer match between Cremonese and Inter in Cremona, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 2026. (Alberto Mariani/LaPresse via AP)
Fans throw a flair towards Cremonese's goalkeeper Emil Audero during the Serie A soccer match between Cremonese and Inter in Cremona, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 2026. (Alberto Mariani/LaPresse via AP)
The game was immediately stopped and Audero rolled away in apparent pain and shock as the medical staff raced onto the field and his teammates ran to Cremonese's stricken goalkeeper.
Audero was able to get up and continue but had a cut on his right leg and appeared to be telling the medical staff that he couldn’t hear from his right ear.
Inter players and coach Cristian Chivu pleaded with the fans to behave.
Audero, who spent the 2023-24 season at Inter, turned and shook his head at the fans shortly before play resumed, three minutes after the incident.
Serie A leader Inter was 2-0 up at the time.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Cremonese's goalkeeper Emil Audero lies on the pitch after fans throw a flair towards him during the Serie A soccer match between Cremonese and Inter in Cremona, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 2026. (Alberto Mariani/LaPresse via AP)
Cremonese's goalkeeper Emil Audero lies on the pitch after fans throw a flair towards him during the Serie A soccer match between Cremonese and Inter in Cremona, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 2026. (Alberto Mariani/LaPresse via AP)
Cremonese's goalkeeper Emil Audero lies on the pitch after fans throw a flair towards him during the Serie A soccer match between Cremonese and Inter in Cremona, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 2026. (Alberto Mariani/LaPresse via AP)
Cremonese's goalkeeper Emil Audero lies on the pitch after fans throw a flair towards him during the Serie A soccer match between Cremonese and Inter in Cremona, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 2026. (Alberto Mariani/LaPresse via AP)
Fans throw a flair towards Cremonese's goalkeeper Emil Audero during the Serie A soccer match between Cremonese and Inter in Cremona, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 2026. (Alberto Mariani/LaPresse via AP)
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A huge swath of the U.S. from the Gulf Coast into New England was mired in extra-cold temperatures Sunday after a bomb cyclone brought heavy snow and hundreds of flight cancellations to North Carolina, flurries and falling iguanas in Florida, and more misery for thousands who are still without power from last weekend's ice storm in the South.
About 150 million people were under cold weather advisories and extreme cold warnings in the eastern portion of the U.S., with wind chills near zero to single digits in the South and the coldest air mass seen in South Florida since December 1989, said Peter Mullinax, a meteorologist with weather prediction center in College Park, Maryland.
The Tampa-St. Petersburg area in Florida saw snow flurries and temperatures in the 20s in the Panhandle and 30s in South Florida on Sunday morning, Mullinax said. That left cold-stunned iguanas lying prostrate and motionless on the ground. Iguanas in South Florida go dormant in the cold and though they usually wake when temperatures warm, the reptiles can die after more than a day of extreme cold.
The cold also left ice on strawberries and oranges in the state. Farmers in Florida sometimes spray water on fruit trees and berry plants to protect them from the cold.
Meanwhile, the bomb cyclone, known to meteorologists as an intense, rapidly strengthening weather system, contributed to nearly a foot (30 centimeters) of snow in and around Charlotte, North Carolina's largest city. The snowfall represented a top-five snow event all time there, Mullinax said.
Flight cancellations exceeded 2,800 in the U.S. on Saturday, with another 1,500 on Sunday, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking and data company. About 800 of those Sunday cancellations were for flights departing or arriving Charlotte Douglas International Airport.
The storm caused an hours-long mess on Interstate 85 northeast of the city, after a crash left dozens of semitractors and other vehicles backed up into the evening, according to the State Highway Patrol. More than 1,000 traffic collisions and two road deaths were reported, North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein said Sunday.
“It’s an impressive cold shot, for sure, and there are daily records that are being seen down in the South," Mullinax said.
Snow blanketed the neighborhood of Lee Harrison, an insurance agent in a town outside of Greenville, North Carolina, and he planned to take his three daughters sledding in the backyard.
“We’re not gonna drive anywhere,” Harrison said. “It’s thick enough that I would not feel comfortable driving with our family.”
More than 110 deaths connected to the wintry weather and storms have been reported around the U.S. since late January. In Tennessee and Mississippi, two states struck last weekend by a storm carrying snow and ice, more than 97,000 customers were still without electricity on Sunday, according to the outage tracking website poweroutage.us. Another 29,000 didn't have power on Sunday in Florida.
Nashville Electric Service said it expects 90% of its customers to have power restored Tuesday, with 99% getting electricity back by next Sunday, two weeks after the ice and snow storm hit.
Gov. Bill Lee said he shared “strong concerns” with leadership of the utility, which has defended its response and said the storm was unprecedented.
Mississippi officials said it was the state’s worst winter storm since 1994. About 80 warming centers were opened and National Guard troops delivered supplies by truck and helicopter.
Mullinax said parts of the Carolinas are going to be “digging out” for several days as they contend with gusty winds and bitterly cold wind chills. Heading into Tuesday and Wednesday, light snow could fall in the Ohio Valley and the mid-Atlantic, from Washington D.C. and possibly into New York City, he said.
Trân Nguyễn in Sacramento, California, Julie Walker in New York and other reporters from around the country contributed.
An iguana stunned by the cold lies immobile on a house deck, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, in South Miami, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
As temperatures dipped below freezing, sprinklers spray water over frost sensitive plants covering them with ice to insulate them from the cold at DeWar Nurseries Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, in Apopka, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Snow falls outside a shopping center in Columbia, S.C., on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)
Alex Taylor, 23, and his dog Daisy, make their way down a snowy hill in Charlotte, N.C., Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Erik Verduzco)
An iguana stunned by the cold lies immobile on a house deck, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, in South Miami, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Icicles cling to a barbed wire fence surrounding an ornamental plant nursery Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, in Plant City, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Icicles cling to oranges at a grove Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, in Plant City, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
