Normally, football supporters will react to their team scoring an own goal with a few jeers or abusive comments at worst; AEK Athens fans decided to chase their team off the pitch.
It’s amazing how an own goal can elicit different reactions depending on when and where it’s scored.
At the weekend, for example, Utrecht defender Mike van der Hoorn scored one of the most embarrassing own goals you’ll ever see but earned a sympathetic pat on the back from the referee and the opposition players. Then again, his team were already getting hammered so it didn’t make much of a difference.
On Sunday night, AEK Athens faced Panthrakikos in a crucial relegation battle and suffered a 1-0 defeat through a quite unfortunate own goal (skip to 0:30 in the video below) with only a few minutes left on the clock. Immediately following the goal, AEK fans stormed the pitch, forcing all the players to make a hasty exit down the tunnel and after a 90-minute delay, the game was abandoned.
15 arrests were made in total, while a Panthrakikos player and team manager suffered head injuries after being struck by fans as they tried to escape to the sanctuary of the dressing room.
AEK Athens are almost certain to be hit with severe punishments as a result of the idiotic behavior of a section of the club’s fans, punishments which could include a points deduction that would almost certainly ensure relegation from the Greek top flight for the first in their history.
Madness.
Hat-tip: 101 Great Goals