Israeli club Maccabi holds PAOK to 0-0 draw amid heavy police presence and protests in Greece
Israeli club Maccabi holds PAOK to 0-0 draw amid heavy police presence and protests in Greece
Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv held PAOK to a 0-0 draw in their opening Europa League game amid a heavy police presence and protests in Thessaloniki.
Maccabi had a first-half goal disallowed due to offside as both sides wasted a number of decent chances to score.
PAOK fans booed Maccabi at the start, waved Palestinian flags and unveiled a big banner near the pitch in the first half which read “Show Israel the Red Card.”
In the other early game, Danish side Midtjylland beat Austria’s Sturm Graz 2-0.
Sturm goalkeeper Oliver Christensen’s own goal following a corner kick became the first goal of the league phase. Ousane Diao headed home the second close to the end.
Several protesters were detained ahead of the game between PAOK and Maccabi in Thessaloniki.
Two small protests took place in the northern Greek city, calling for Israeli clubs to be expelled from European competition in response to mass casualties in the war in Gaza. Protesters unfurled a banner reading “Genocide” in English from scaffolding on a building complex that also houses the U.S. consulate.
Police conducted a large-scale security operation outside the stadium while while bomb squad sniffer dogs inspected the site.
Some 120 Israeli fans were held held behind a police cordon while the Maccabi team bus was escorted by a police special forces unit to the 28,000-seat Toumba Stadium.
More than 100 Roma supporters have been arrested in Nice ahead of a match between the two teams.
A violent altercation broke out Tuesday night and objects were thrown at police officers, while Nice fans reportedly riled up their Roma counterparts by chanting “there’s only Lazio in Rome.” Lazio is Roma’s fierce rival in the Italian capital.
The two sets of fans reportedly never came into contact as they couldn’t breach the police lines.
Nottingham Forest returns to European competition after three decades with a trip to Spain to face Real Betis in its Europa League opener.
The Premier League team reached the quarterfinals of the UEFA Cup, the predecessor of the current second-tier competition, in the 1995-96 season and hasn't been back.
Forest is still looking for its first victory under new coach Ange Postecoglou after two losses and a draw since the former Tottenham manager took over from the fired Nuno Espírito Santo.
Postecoglou was fired by Tottenham in June despite winning the Europa League for Spurs' first trophy in 17 years after a season in which they endured their worst-ever Premier League campaign, finishing 17th.
Forest is in the Europa League instead of Crystal Palace, the English FA Cup winner which was demoted by UEFA in a complex case relating to owners having stakes in multiple clubs. Crystal Palace will play the third-tier Conference League.
Among the other games Wednesday, Bundesliga’s Freiburg hosts Swiss champion Basel, Feyenoord travels to Braga, Celtic meets Red Star in Belgrade and PAOK plays Maccabi Tel-Aviv at home.
The remaining nine games are scheduled for Thursday.
The Europa League uses the same 36-team league format as the Champions League. Teams play eight different opponents during the league phase and are ranked in a single-standings table.
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