Greek FA not concerned by prospect of all-English final

The Greek FA have played down concerns that next month’s Champions League final could witness a repeat of the violence that has marred recent European encounters involving English clubs.

The Premiership is guaranteed to have one representative at the Olympic Stadium in Athens on May 23, with Liverpool and Chelsea drawn together in the semi-finals, while the possibility of an all-English encounter persists with Manchester United set to face AC Milan in the other final-four tie.

However, English clubs have been caught up in the wave of violence that has swept European football in recent months, with images of bloodied United fans still fresh in the memory following clashes with Italian police at last week’s quarter-final first-leg tie against Roma at the Stadio Olimpico.

Similar scenes also played out in Tottenham’s UEFA Cup tie with Sevilla just 24 hours later and there are fears that trouble could flare again should two sets of English fans descend on Athens.

Michalis Tsapieis, press officer for the Hellenic Football Federation, has moved to quell these misgivings.

He told PA Sport: “We are not afraid of a final between two English teams because we don’t have to worry. We’ll be consulting the English authorities as well as UEFA and the Greek police if that were to happen.

“We are sure that everything will be fine and that it will be a great final. I don’t think that we would need any special security measures because the Champions League final is more than a match – it’s a celebration of football.

“It’s a game not a war.”

Sports-related violence is a particularly thorny issue for the Greek authorities at present.

The country is still entrenched in a self-imposed ban on team sports, put in place last month following clashes between Panathinaikos and Olympiacos fans outside a volleyball match that resulted in the death of a 25-year-old man.

Rumours emanating from supporters groups in the capital suggest that hardcore fans may use the Champions League final as a platform for further trouble, but Tsapieis is confident that these fears are wide of the mark.

He added: “This is a much bigger subject, but it has nothing to do with the Champions League final. I don’t think that this scenario would happen.

“I agree that there has been lots of violence, but as I said before, the Champions League is something special.

“Security is not something we should be worried about.”