Aberdeen last night opened an investigation into post-match crowd trouble after their defeat to Apollon Limassol in the Europa League third qualifying round. A goal in either half meant that Aberdeen were knocked out for the fourth consecutive year at this stage, and there were ugly scenes at the end when fighting broke out between some of their supporters and stewards at the AEK Arena in Larnaca.
What had started as a scuffle between several fans and a handful of stewards escalated into a brawl between dozens of supporters and stewards. Riot police then arrived and began moving Aberdeen fans out of the stadium, where the trouble continued.
There had been a hostile environment at the game itself, with Apollon Limassol fans twice halting play when flares were thrown at Joe Lewis, the goalkeeper. Derek McInnes, the Aberdeen manager, expressed his anger after the match and claimed stewards should have been doing their job, rather than being “heavy-handed” with fans.
McInnes said that:
• Stefan Klossner, the Swiss referee, had threatened to abandon the game if one more flare had came on the pitch.
• Apollon supporters in the main stand spat at him and his players in the dugout.
• Stewards used tear gas and batons against visiting supporters.
Apollon will face a charge from Uefa for the throwing of flares but McInnes was furious at the treatment of travelling supporters. Of the defeat, he said: “When you see the fans applaud the players and sing their names at the end, it’s really heartbreaking [that we’ve been knocked out],” he said. “They give us so much support and you want to give them at least one more round and maybe get to the group stages. I think we’ve all got to take the responsibility that that was one that got away.
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“I heard the referee say to the fourth official to have an announcement made that if one more flare came on to the pitch he was abandoning the game. It was too stop-start for me at that minute, they were going down at every turn and the smoke was coming on just as we were beginning to get a bit of momentum.”
Of the trouble on the terracing, he said: “I’ve just heard what happened to our supporters at the end as well. You expect it to be passionate and noisy but when flares are getting thrown at your goalkeeper and your fans are getting treated the way they were treated, it’s quite unfair on everybody.
“I heard the stewards were very heavy-handed, going in with tear gas and being very aggressive. When you see flares getting thrown on the pitch and supporters spitting at our players and myself and the staff: that is when stewards need to be more visible.”
In a statement last night Aberdeen FC said: “Following incidents at the end of this evening’s match in Larnaca, the club can confirm it has commenced dialogue with the stadium operators, Apollon Limassol and the authorities.”