A GREEK Super League clash between Olympiacos and Panathinaikos was abandoned after a player was struck by a firework.
The game between the two fierce rivals has previously been labelled “Europe’s maddest derby”.
And tonight’s encounter certainly lived up to that billing after the shocking incident five minutes into the second half.
The scores were level at 1-1 when the away side sent their substitutes out along the touchline to warm up.
However, Panathinaikos’ Spanish star Juankar was struck by a firecracker thrown from the crowd.
The club’s social media account posted: “A firecracker falls on the players of our team who are warming up. Juankar is on the ground injured.
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“Interruption in the match. Our team retires to the locker room.”
He fell down to the floor injured as play was first suspended at the Georgios Karaiskakis stadium in Piraeus, Greece.
The 33-year-old left-back received treatment before he was taken away on a medical cart.
With fans still inside the ground, the delay reached the 60 minute mark as information on what was happening seemed to be scarce.
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Panathinaikos then posted another update that seemed to suggest that their squad were reluctant to leave the changing room.
They said: “An hour has passed since stoppage time in the derby. Our team remains in the locker room.”
The match was eventually abandoned, as confirmed by Panathinaikos on social media.
They wrote on X: “The referee closed the match sheet and the fate of the match will be decided in the courts…”
The disgusting scenes ensued only minutes after Olympiacos had equalised.
After Juankar was taken away, his team-mates and Panathinaikos staff soon followed.
One report in Greece claims that they were demanding that the player be taken to hospital for further checks while the referee was trying to convince them to return to the pitch.
Meanwhile, the Olympiacos players remained on the turf for around half an hour before they also headed back into the changing room.
A tannoy announcement was made around 9:30pm local time saying that a decision on whether play would restart would be made shortly.
However, the players never came back out.
Back in 2019, Panathinaikos’ clash with Olympiacos was abandoned after their fans attacked rival players and tear gas spread onto the pitch.
The referee was forced to stop the match after just four minutes when hooligans brutally ambushed the visiting team’s bench.
Around 30 Panathinaikos fans entered the field and attacked the players before police intervened.
The fixture was stopped for eight minutes before official Marco Fritz allowed the game to carry on.
But violence continued outside of the stadium when Miguel Angel Guerrero opened the scoring for Olympiacos.
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Police used tear gas to try and control the crowds as supporters inside of the ground set fire to banners.
The game was eventually called off in the 70th minute as the tear gas used affected the players and fans.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
