PAOK Salonica beat AEK Athens to win Greek Cup final marred by crowd violence

VOLOS, Greece (Reuters) - PAOK Salonica defeated AEK Athens 2-1 to win the Greek Cup for the fifth time on Saturday but the final was marred by violence before the match kicked off at the Panthessaliko Stadium in Volos.





The start was delayed by 30 minutes after fans of both finalists clashed with riot police, who used tear gas to break up the scuffles in and around the ground.

According to local reports, 30 people were admitted to hospital, including six with serious head and stomach injuries.

Fans were seen using a variety of objects as weapons -- from ripped up stadium seats to metal poles -- as they lit flares and tried to climb over the fencing to invade the pitch.

Before the delayed start at 9 p.m. local time, a minute’s silence was observed for a Cypriot PAOK fan who died this week after being hit by a car while trying to flee crowd trouble in Thessaloniki.

On the pitch, PAOK won their first trophy in 14 years after goals by Dutchman Diego Biseswar and substitute Pedro Henrique earned them the Cup.

A comical error by PAOK goalkeeper Panagiotis Glykos allowed Lazaros Christodoulopoulos to score the equaliser for Athens in the 26th minute.









(Reporting by Graham Wood, editing by Pritha Sarkar)


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