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Olympiakos Piraeus vs. Panathinaikos
Athens, Greece
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Rivals, The Offbeat Guide To The 92 League Clubs, is one of the best derby books available.
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| AEK Athens - Olympiakos Piraeus (4-0) |
| Superleague Greece Championship, 30 March 2008 |
| Stadium : Athens Olympic Stadium |
| Attendance : 50.000 |
The standings at the top of the tables were very close at the time of the match which made this match a win or loose all situation for AEK. If we lost this match all hope would have been lost for the championship.
Unfortunately we did not manage to sell out the 70,000 Olympic Stadium in Athens like we had for previous games but 50,000 still wasn't a bad crowd. All of the supporters had been anticipating this match for weeks so many of us showed up early for the match so we could start singing while the players were warming up.
When Olympiakos came to warm up they had to warm up on the side of the pitch closest to the Originals (the die-hard AEK supporters). As soon as they came out of the dressing room the jeers and boos started coming from everyone.
Now, at this point, something happened which made this 4-0 victory over our fierce rivals even sweeter. As soon as Nikoplidis entered, the Originals and every one else in the crowd started singing chants against him, and booing him. Nikopolidis, feeling confident that his team would come out victorious, started raising his hands and making gestures towards the crowd, encouraging the crowd to boo him even lowder.
Shortly after this incident the game started. Fortunately, my father and I had season tickets in a very good location, so we had no worries getting a good seat. A decent seat would normally cost approximately 20 euro.
There were no Olympiakos fans allowed into the stadium due to the trouble which normally results at Greek derbies. The stadium was almost filled with nobody but AEK supporters singing chant after chant against Olympiakos and the management of the team.
The first goal came in the 9th minute and we were going crazy, all of us singing and jumping around even louder than before. The 2nd goal came a few minutes later, the smoke from the flares lit before still hanging over the pitch, and we were still celebrating the first goal. It was an amazing moment when we saw that second goal go in the net the whole crowd rising to their feets.
Two more goals came before the referee blew the final whistle and after every goal the entire crowd would start singing the name of the Olympiakos goalkeeper.
At the end of the match Rivaldo, a former Olympiakos player who felt he was not treated fairly during his stay at Olympiakos, ran to the Originals section, through the security guards trying to stop him and threw his shirt into the crowd. After that, on his way back to the dressing rooms he held up four fingers and ever since then, at the end of every match, he holds four fingers up.
The singing never stopped once throughout the entire match. Even after the match many people stayed behind in the stadium to continue singing. And on the train back home the singing was still going on at the station.
That night we turned on the sports highlight show which is always on every Sunday evening after the matches. After watching the highlights of the goals we saw videos of the Olympiakos players shaking their heads and lying on the ground in disbelief of the humiliation they had just suffered. It was videos like these that made all of us AEK fans say to ourselves that no matter what had happened with the championship we were the happiest fans in Greece, in Europe, and maybe even in the World at that moment.
For days, people were still watching the highlights and talking about the match, about that magical day when AEK defeated Olympiakos 4-0. The worst defeat Olympiakos had suffered in 40 years.
Report added : 25 April 2008
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