Scary flares disrupt game in Greece

There is a reason flares are banned from all football grounds and this is why.

The meeting of PAOK and Olympiakos, in the semi-final of the Greek Cup, was halted last night as fans created what must have been one of the biggest fire hazards in recent football history.

The Toumba stadium in Thessaloniki is the home of PAOK who went into the second leg of the tie trailing Olympiakos 2-1 on aggregate.

A Stefanos Athanasiadis goal two minutes into the second half saw POAK into the final on the away goals rule after a 1-0 victory on the night.

Kick-off was delayed for over an hour because of the flares and the bizarre throwing of dead fish at the Olympiakos bench by home fans.

Seven people have been arrested because of the crowd trouble, which continued after the match with Olympiakos claiming their players Maniatis and Nelson Valdez had been attacked by pitch-invading fans at the final whistle.

PAOK are likely to be hit by sanctions over the incident as they look forward to a final meeting with Panathinaikos.