Thessaloniki, Greece: The Greek Cup semi-final second leg match between PAOK and Olympiakos was held up for over an hour on Wednesday after PAOK fans set the Greek champions’ bench on fire.
It left the Olympiakos vice-president seething with rage — not helped either by the fact that home fans had also placed anchovies, in reference to one of the champions’ nicknames, on the seats in the dugout.
“They burned our bench, this is ultimate humiliation, this is terrorism. Shame and disgrace. Football cannot be played this way,” said Olympiakos vice-president Savvas Theodoridis, who witnessed the incidents.
“Fans from PAOK placed fish on our bench while a flare resulted in a portion of the bench to catch fire,” Olympiakos reported on its official Twitter account.
Away goals rule
Eventually the match was able to get underway after stadium staff in Thessaloniki put out the fire and cleared the anchovies from the seats.
Olympiakos’ eminently forgettable evening ended with their hopes of the domestic double being ended.
PAOK won the match 1-0 and advanced on the away goals rule — the tie finishing 2-2 on aggregate — to the final on April 26.
They will meet Panathinaikos, who beat OFI Crete 3-0, 3-1 on aggregate, earlier on Wednesday.
The PAOK match had already been preceded by trouble as outside the stadium PAOK supporters and riot-trained police clashed for 10 minutes with only the use of tear gas by police bringing a halt to the violence.