Dynamo against AEK: “Uses a tragedy to pressure UEFA and avoid responsibility”

The tones rise even more before her confrontations AEK with the Dinamo Zagreb, in the aftermath of the killing of AEK’s 29-year-old friend by the hooligan raid in New Philadelphia. The Croatian team accuses the “Union” side of abdicating its responsibilities and exploiting a human tragedy to put pressure on UEFA.

“We regret that AEK is escaping responsibility with its statements and behavior, raising tensions and using inappropriate, aggressive and inflammatory language in official announcements with the aim of putting pressure on UEFA. It is especially incomprehensible that he tries to use a human tragedy without any hesitation for his own promotion and the result shows the absence of basic decency, empathy and respect for the victim. We consider such an approach inappropriate, especially since it is clear to everyone, except AEK representatives, that GNK Dinamo did everything in their power to prevent this situation from happening. For all events in Greece, the biggest responsibility lies with the organizers, i.e. the Greek police and AEK as host“, it states, among other things.

The Croats also emphasize that the attitude of AEK “… it is not worthy of the behavior of a European club. We call on the representatives of AEK to devote themselves to football and calm the tensions and leave the role of investigator and judge to the competent bodies“, while they accuse the “Union” of not being cooperative and mention the actions they took to avoid the incidents.

The announcement of Dinamo Zagreb:

In this way GNK Dinamo wants to react to several AEK football performances related to the tragedy that happened on August 7 of this year.

GNK Dinamo has repeatedly clearly, unequivocally, publicly and harshly condemned the riots which unfortunately led to deaths. Violence has no place in a civilized society and we will always fight for the true values ​​our club promotes and we sincerely want to believe that our rival AEK shares similar views.

We regret that AEK is escaping responsibility with its statements and behavior, raising tensions and using inappropriate, aggressive and inflammatory language in official announcements with the aim of putting pressure on UEFA. It is especially incomprehensible that he tries to use a human tragedy without any hesitation for his own promotion and the result shows the absence of basic decency, empathy and respect for the victim. We consider such an approach inappropriate, especially since it is clear to everyone, except AEK representatives, that GNK Dinamo did everything in their power to prevent this situation from happening. For all events in Greece, the biggest responsibility lies with the organizers, i.e. the Greek police and AEK as host.

We want to clearly emphasize that the officials of the club made themselves available to the representatives of AEK, UEFA and the police to shed light on the whole event and return the atmosphere to sports. We constantly maintained active communication with all involved except AEK. From the first moment, representatives of the Greek club prevented any attempt to cooperate, to search for the best solution. They demonstratively walked out of the organizational meeting on the day of the match, canceled the official lunch of the two missions, refused any kind of communication, and with this behavior assigned themselves the role of investigator, prosecutor and judge. We consider such a procedure to be, to say the least, an absurd and dangerous play with emotions at such a delicate moment.

We strongly condemn this kind of communication from our sports rivals from Athens, especially while the investigation is still ongoing and every day we learn new details about the unpleasant event. We emphasize that until this moment it has not been ascertained whether the perpetrator of this terrible crime is a Croatian or a Greek citizen. We will not give anyone the right to play under the name Dynamo in such a monstrous way! Our club cherishes the principles of respect and healthy communication with our European rivals. Today we encounter everything that is not worthy of the behavior of a European club.

We call on the representatives of AEK to devote themselves to football and calm the tensions and leave the role of investigator and judge to the competent bodies.

We believe that our club has been one of the cornerstones of Croatian football for years, constantly playing in European competitions, helping to strengthen the national factor and contributing strongly to the successes of the Croatian national football team. We believe that the Croatian Football Association, as our umbrella organization, will actively participate in this matter and protect the interests of Croatian football.

Once again, we need to remind the public of the steps the club took ahead of the visit to Athens to prevent potential violence and disorder.

On Thursday 3 August, the club received a notice from UEFA banning away fans from attending UEFA Champions League 3rd qualifying round matches. On the same day, the club informed fans and the public on all its channels that there will be no ticket sales for the match in Athens. Also, the same news was sent to all major Croatian media that reported UEFA’s decision.

The following day, 4 August, GNK Dinamo sent a written notification to the Police Directorate informing the Directorate of the time of departure and return, flight numbers, place of residence and possible departure of the fans.

In the same letter it was emphasized: “Depending on the number of gathered fans, the possibility of a conflict with other fan groups that will be in Athens at that time is not excluded.”

On the same day, the club drew up a document in which we covered all the issues regarding the possible arrival of our fans we were expecting in Greece. Questions were sent to AEK representatives, but we have not received a response from the Greek club. The question was also sent to UEFA, which replied that it is important for AEK to answer the questions raised.