The game between PAOK and Olympiacos on Sunday, February 25th, for Super League's matchday 23, it was one of the most decisive for the Greek championship of 2017-18 season and more than 30.000 fans attended this important clash at Toumba Stadium of Thessaloniki under heavy rain.
The administration of the Greek Cup winners had asked many times during the game's week the fans to not light any torches or fireworks, but to create a nice atmosphere with thousands of paper pieces before the beginning of this derby clash against the Reds, such us in the football stadiums of Argentina.
After 15 consecutive victories in all competitions, the team of Romanian manager Răzvan Lucescu was the strong favorite against the struggling title holders, which had only one victory at their last six matches and were clearly out of form. But as it was proved, Olympiacos had no interest in actually playing...
A few seconds before the beginning of this derby clash by referee Alexandros Aretopoulos, a paper roll thrown by the stands of Toumba Stadium landed close to manager of the Reds, Oscar Garcia Junyent, and the 44-year-old Catalan immediately fall down, clutching his face and especially his eyes.
Olympiacos footballers and officials, after the request of club's vice-president Savvas Theodoridis (something which was clearly planned), immediately fled the pitch, returned to the locker rooms of the stadium and refused to come out and play, even if everybody realized that Oscar Garcia was more than capable of guiding his team and there was no actual eye or even lip injury, as you can see in the following SDNA photos.
The match never started, although the officials of PAOK tried to convince the Reds to play and remained calm in spite of the provocation faced, referee Aretopoulos was forced first to hault and then to postpone it, more than 30.000 fans had to return to their homes without watching the game they have been waiting for months, because of a theatrical act and a suspicious plan from Olympiacos side.
We should also mention that Oscar Garcia was not properly signed up as manager of Olympiacos one hour before the beginning of this match (there was the name of his assistant, Christos Kontis) and that his club decided to visit a private hospital of Thesaloniki after his "injury" on Sunday and not a public one, which is considered to be more reliable, where he was heavily guarded by the Police forces.
The Disciplinary Committee of Super League called over PAOK on Wednesday, in order to apologize for team's supporters behavior, but the historic Thessaloniki club published an announcement after important away victory (3-1) against Panionios at Greek Cup's semi final, claiming that it will be a real scandal if Olympiacos win the game in cards, asking at least for its repeat in order to prove their superiority...
