THE DERBY between Olympiacos and AEK Athens descended into chaos following a dramatic encounter marred by controversial refereeing.
AEK won 3-1 at Georgios Karaiskakis in the Greek Superleague’s play-off round and effectively dethroned the reigning Greek champions, who are now third in the table and nine points away from the top.
All hell broke loose following Davide Massa’s final whistle as fans invaded the pitch and faced off with riot police, who launched tear gas to disperse the warring crowd.
The incident took place at the same ground that could see Manchester City competing at on August 16.
That is when the UEFA Super Cup takes place between the Champions League and Europa League winners.
The dramatic scenes ensued following a tensed encounter between the rival clubs that saw Olympiacos protesting four of Massa’s calls.
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The hosts were denied penalty in the first half when Domagoj Vida pushed Cedric Bakambu from behind inside the box shortly after AEK opened the scoring with Mijat Gacinovic after just seven minutes.
Damian Szymanski then escaped a direct red card when he stepped on Mathieu Valbuena’s ankle from behind.
The visitors were awarded a soft penalty in the second half when Vida fell under pressure from Oleg Reabciuk 26 minutes after Bakambu equalised for the Greek giants.
Levi Garcia defeated Alexandros Paschalakis from the spot eight minutes before full-time.
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AEK sealed the win in the first minute of stoppage time with Petros Mantalos’ beautiful finish.
But Nordin Amrabat, who is the brother of Fiorentina and Morocco star Sofyan, fouled Reabciuk before delivering the assist.
Olympiacos, who are owned by Nottingham Forest supremo Evangelos Marinakis, issued a fiery statement after full-time.
The Piraeus outfit lashed out as they described the Greek football governing body EPO as “hoodlums”, the refereeing as “disgusting” and the Greek government as “incompetent”.
Olympiacos’ statement read: “Today, even the blind saw what is happening in Greek football.
“[Football’s] Fraudsters, hoodlums and outlaws have shown that they have no qualms. We told you that our fans’ patience is running out! They were very patient.
“They deemed a penalty in a challenge that had no contact. They didn’t even check with VAR when there was a clear foul before AEK’s goal.
“The whole of Greece was left disgusted. The hoodlums from EPO and the government’s incompetence to deal with them killed football!”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
