PAOK Thessaloniki was the winner of the Greek Cup final after beating AEK Athens 2-1 in a game that was marked by crowd violence that delayed the start of the game by 30 minutes.
In the 75th Greek Cup final at Panthessaliko Stadium in Volos, a header by substitute Pedro Henrique in the 81st minute gave PAOK the win and their first Cup after 14 years.
The game started a little over 30 minutes after schedule, as fans of the two teams were still fighting in the bleachers. The Athens team had control of the game in the first 20 minutes, but in the 24th minute Diego Biseswar made the best of Djalma Campos pass and put PAOK in the lead.
It took AEK three minutes to equalize as PAOK goalie Panayiotis Glykos saw the ball slip through his hands and go into the net after a long shot by Lazaros Christodoulopoulos. Pace picked up after the goal and both teams had chances to score until the end of the first half.
In the second half, the players of the two teams were very cautious as if they were saving their strength for overtime. In the 81st minute though, a long cross from Marin Leovac found Henrique about one meter behind the AEK defense and the PAOK player scored the winning goal.
AEK coach Manolo Jimenez complained after the game that in the winning goal the PAOK player was offside.
Violent clashes between fans leave 40 injured
Fans of the two clubs clashed before the game on a footbridge outside the stadium. The violent fights lasted about 30 minutes before riot police intervened using tear gas and stun grenades.
According to police, 11 people were taken to a hospital, two of them in serious condition. One of the two was stabbed with a knife and the other suffered multiple head wounds. Another 40 or so received first aid on the site.
The violence continued on the bleachers as well, even though fans of the two teams were separated.
(Watch the winning goal below)
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