Roma fan Simone Mastrelli has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison after pleading guilty to the assault of Sean Cox outside Anfield in April 2018.
Mastrelli had entered a guilty plea, at Preston Crown Court on Thursday morning, to unlawfully and maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm on Mr Cox.
Mastrelli, from Rome, had been extradited last month after being arrested on a European Arrest Warrant in Italy in connection with the attack on father-of-three Mr Cox, from Dunboyne in Co Meath, Ireland.
Sentencing, the Recorder of Preston Judge Mark Brown said: “There is no doubt in my mind that you went to the stadium as a group to sort out the Liverpool supporters and in doing so you have destroyed the life of an innocent man and his family.
“This was on any view a dreadful offence. It has had a profound impact on Mr Cox and his family.”
The 30-year-old also pleaded not guilty to a separate count of violent disorder, also on April 24, which will lie on file after the plea was accepted by the Crown.
Mr Cox suffered serious catastrophic head injuries in the attack and has been recovering at the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dun Laoghaire.
Sean Cox received get well messages from Roma players following the incidence:
He spent four-and-a-half weeks at the Walton Centre in Liverpool, a specialist neurological unit for brain injuries, following the attack, before being airlifted to another specialist unit at Dublin’s Beaumont Hospital.
The attack occurred prior to Liverpool’s Champions League semi-final first-leg clash against Roma.