March 18 – Greek football has been plunged back into ignominy with Panathinaikos’ derby with Olympiakos Piraeus abandoned on Sunday after their fans attempted to attack players on the visiting team’s bench.
The referee halted play after 70 minutes and called off the game for good half an hour later with Olympiakos leading 1-0, saying the stadium had not been made sufficiently safe amid lingering teargas.
Most of 25,000 fans had already left the stadium because of the affects of the teargas.
The match was first interrupted as early as sixth minute, when about 30 Panathinaikos fans, some masked, ran on the pitch the field and went for the Olympiakos bench before police intervened.
Outside the ground fans attacked police soon after Olympiakos’ Miguel Ángel Guerrero scored in the 53rd minute. This is when the teargas started, soon wafting into the stadium.
Panathinaikos, seventh in the league with five rounds to go, face a possible points deduction, with Olympiakos awarded a 3-0 win.
Panathinaikos released a statement condemning the violence and blaming it on a “handful of disrespectful fans”.
It marked the latest disgraceful episode to hit Greek football which is in the news more for ugly scenes of fan unrest than for anything achieved on the pitch.
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