Greek Super League clash between Olympiacos and Panathinaikos had to be suspended after a Panathinaikos player was struck by a firework thrown at him by a fan.
The incident took place 5 minutes into the second half with the score level at 1-1 between the two rivals.
As the Panathinaikos players were warming on the touchline, Spanish star Juankar was struck by a firecracker thrown from the crowd.
He fell down to the floor injured and the 33-year-old received treatment before he was taken away on a medical cart and later to a hospital.
This is the only image I can find from Olympiacos vs Panathinaikos when trying to see the firecrackers that apparently got the derby called off. Juankar went down holding his ears and the game was abandoned #OLYPAO pic.twitter.com/aRmG0dEIvt
— Tom Bowdery (@TBowdery27) October 22, 2023
? Suspendido el Olympiakos-Panathinaikos porque han lanzado un petardo al jugador español, Juankar
? Se lo han llevado al hospital y los jugadores del Panathinaikos han abandonado el campo
? #PartidazoCOPE pic.twitter.com/KyCe7bLNuO
— El Partidazo de COPE (@partidazocope) October 22, 2023
The match was suspended after the players went down in the dressing room and refused to come back out to play.
The clash between the two Greek teams is one of the biggest and fiercest rivalries in Europe and it is often marred with incidents.