Police fears for the recurrence of violence after Wednesday’s tragic death of three bank employees in central Athens caused the postponement of both football Super League matches and the volleyball final scheduled for Thursday.
The Super League announced on Thursday morning that the play-off matches of AEK vs Aris and PAOK vs Olympiakos are put off until Sunday, delaying the whole schedule by three or four days.
Similarly ESAP, the volleyball league organiser, announced that game two of the league finals between Olympiakos and Panathinaikos was postponed to Saturday evening.
Both postponements are set to cause a headache to national team coaches, as both Otto Rehhagel and Gordon Mayforth were desperate to have the Greek international in football and volleyball respectively with them as early as possible to start preparation for the crucial matches ahead of them, the World Cup in football and the European Championship qualifiers in volleyball.
Olympiakos and PAOK are hotly contesting a place in next season’s Champions League after wins for both teams last Sunday meant that they remained joint-top of the play-off league.
The clubs from Piraeus and Thessalonica both have seven points after two games thanks to a 2-1 win over AEK and a 2-0 victory over Aris respectively.
Two headers won the game for Olympiakos. The first came from Swedish defender Olof Mellberg in the 11th minute and the second from Italian midfielder Enzo Maresca two minutes before half-time.
Sandwiched in between these two goals, Raffik Djebbour had scored a penalty to make it 1-1.
Olympiakos complained that it was the wrong decision but AEK was the one left most aggrieved
Reds goalkeeper Antonis Nikopolidis dropped the ball from a corner for Costas Manolas to prod it home but the match official ruled there had been a push on the goalie.
Replays showed that Nikopolidis had not been touched.
In the Thessaloniki derby between PAOK and Aris, the hosts took the lead in the 27th minute through Vladan Ivic’s fine finish from inside the area.
It was 2-0 10 minutes later when Mirko Savini headed home from a corner.
The defeats for Aris and AEK leave the two sides in yellow on three and two points respectively.
