Lazio coach Edy Reja believes the attitudes within Italian football will drive more top players away from Serie A.

Reja is angry that Lazio fans cheered Inter Milan's goals during last Sunday's defeat.

"The truth is we are living through an exasperated football climate and with the way things are going I don't know what could happen in the next Rome derby," warned Reja.

"This is why our best players go abroad. We've got to calm everything down and focus on football. There is over-the-top criticism everywhere, people cannot wait to cause controversy and so there is very little talk of football.

"Lately we have hit tragic peaks. Sides have always made fun of each other and once the Rome derby was wonderful, but since 1979-80 everything changed.

"We need to go back to the past, to the sporting values that saw people go to the stadium to enjoy a festival of football. We're losing our status in Europe as people and as a sport.

"It is us who work in football who should set an example, but in this atmosphere we often fall into the trap too. This is not sport, it is pure violence."