A Greek football manager has been handed a four-month touchline ban in the wake of footage showing him attempting to confront a rival supporter.
After a narrow 1-0 defeat to rivals AEK Athens – where ex-Spurs star Erik Lamela scored the winner – PAOK boss Razvan Lucescu was seen lunging at a fan in the stadium car park.
Footage which appeared on X appeared to show Lucescu rushing down the team bus stairs and stumbling as he rushed out to confront the AEK supporter.
A report from IAmSport claimed Lucescu had been irked by the fans, who lifted up an AEK shirt from six years ago towards the bus as they walked through the car park.
Though PAOK staff attempted to restrain Lucescu, they could not, and police were forced to intervene.
In the clip, a big group of officers were rushing towards Lucescu, while he attempted to make his way to the AEK fans.
PAOK boss Razvan Lucescu has been handed a four-month touchline ban in the wake of footage showing him attempting to confront a rival supporter
Footage showed Lucescu trying to run up to an AEK Athens fan inside a stadium car park
It’s since been reported that Lucescu and his assistants Pantelis Konstantinidis, Georgios Tsonakas, Georgios Theodoridis and Athanasios Kapoulas have all been handed the fine.
Reports claim that the coaching staff were each fined £12,400 (€15,000) for their roles in the ordeal. PAOK themselves were handed a £24,800 (€30,000) fine.
AEK Athens manager Matias Almeyda was involved in a heated brawl after a fiery derby against PAOK descended into unsightly scenes following the final whistle.
In shameful chaos in Greece, AEK lost 3-2 to their rivals in a crucial match in the Super League title race and the result lit the fuse on a chaotic altercation.
Almeyda was caught on camera at full-time venting his fury before becoming involved in a fracas as a small crowd of bodies gathered around the dugout.
The 50-year-old was spotted pushing Sergio Araujo, his own player, and a substitute and then went on to confront a number of people, forcing police to step in.
PAOK’s Taison and several AEK coaches looked to hold Almeyda back but they were unsuccessful as he wriggled away and grabbed another person by the neck.
Eventually, Almeyda was dragged out of the melee and the flare-up petered out.
According to Greek publication Sportal, the man seemingly throttled by Almeyda was an official working for the Sub-Directorate of Sports Violence Prevention.
Police quickly rushed onto the scene to try and restrain the PAOK manager’s actions
The coaching staff were each fined £12,400 (€15,000) for their roles in the ordeal
Meanwhile, in December last year, the Greek government announced top-flight football matches would be played behind closed doors until February 12 after a police officer was injured in clashes between rival fans.
Action was taken after a police officer suffered a severed artery in their thigh in violence during a volleyball match in Athens.
The match was between rivals Olympiacos and Panathinaikos, with both teams owned by football clubs carrying the same name.
Pavlos Marinakis, a Government spokesperson, announced after a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis that all top flight football matches would be held behind closed door for two months.
