Dirty TackleAthens derby abandoned because it was on fire
Even without the away Olympiakos fans barred from Sunday's Athens derby against despised rivals Panathinaikos due to league restrictions, there was still enough violence and explosions to get the match abandoned.
From Reuters:
The start of the second half was delayed by 45 minutes as fans pelted police with flares, molotovs and missiles and was subsequently abandoned altogether with nine minutes remaining with Olympiakos 1-0 ahead through Djamel Abdoun's 51st-minute goal.
Several petrol bombs exploded close to the pitch, prompting referee Anastasio Kakos to end the match prematurely and pull the players off the field.
Twenty police officers were injured and over 50 arrests were made, while 10 molotov cocktails, sticks, firecrackers and two knives were confiscated by the authorities, police said.
Three fire trucks had to be called in to put out the fires in several different sections of the stadium and Panathinaikos captain Kostas Katsouranis said it was "one of the worst moments in Greek football." Which is really saying something considering that last year alone this same derby earned the title of "derby of shame," plus 100 masked Greek fans attack Croatian supporters, throwing seats and launching fire bombs to get a Euro qualifier abandoned, plus AEK fans "set Greek football back 100 years" after winning the domestic cup among many, many other incidents.
Here are more photos of the nightmarish, yet disturbingly common scene...
