Friday or Saturday the decision on the fate of the derby: What was said at the hearing

A little less than four hours (!) lasted the trial of the case of stopping the derby between Olympic and the Panathinaikos after throwing a firecracker and injuring Huancar. The two sides presented their positions with lawyers and witnesses, while the judge, first judge, Antigoni Stamoleka, gave a deadline until Friday at 1:00 p.m. for submission of pleadings. This means that the decision is expected either tomorrow. She said that her intention is to issue the decision before the matches of the competition, therefore it is not excluded that she will come out on Saturday as well, if she does not make it on Friday.

First the witnesses were examined. On behalf of Olympiakos, Kostas Karapapas, with the PAE vice-president stating that there was no objective injury questioning both the tests on the player and the match doctor and also the referee Maresca who drew up the match sheet. Whether the intervention of Panathinaikos is accepted will be known when the decision is issued.

Afterwards, the vice-president testified on behalf of Panathinaikos Leonidas Butsikaris and team doctor Panagiotis Alexandropoulos stressing that the Spanish back’s injury is not in doubt but is proven by specific tests. In fact, the former also conveyed the bitterness of the footballer, stressing that he still cannot train, while he is treated by the other side as… an offender while he is the victim of the firecracker being thrown.

In the lawyers’ meetings that followed, Panathinaikos asked for the application of the regulation pointing out that there was an injury and therefore an automatic stoppage of the match. “A firecracker was thrown and the football player was injured. Since the player has been ordered to go to the doctor’s office, we have an injury, the doctor assesses the situation and finds that at the time of the injury the player cannot compete. So we have an automatic suspension of the match“, said Mr. Vagiakos. “A person legally on the playing field was injured. In the locker room after 6-7 minutes the examination was done again. It is examined and finds the same thing. The player had unsteadiness and hearing loss. The reason for the temporary stoppage still exists. Here for some special reason it was said that the referee said “guys look to see if the player can play”. Injury is not blood, but any condition that deprives him of the ability to fight. It is examined a second time and finds the same. In the clinic he was unsteady and hearing impaired, so the reason for temporary stoppage still exists. If it was abroad, the moment the injury is established it is stopped. Here the referee said if the player can come back. Juancar is examined after 60 minutes and he has the same symptoms, he improved towards hearing, so he could not get up. The referee asks the doctor to confirm whether or not he can compete. So far we have decided that it cannot, that is why we have the decision. There was a temporary stoppage due to an injury to Juancar. The doctor for some reasons did not make a decision, so far he has made a decision not to let the player play. It is confirmed by the referee’s testimony which clarifies what happened,” he added and concluded: “If the reason for the stoppage was the lapse of 2.5 hours the referee would not have insisted on being told by the doctor if the player can play. If he told him he could, the game would continue. The referee has 2 decisions after that, either the player is fit and the match continues or not. This is the sole reason for the interruption. Throwing the firecracker, the injury and his inability to continue after 2.5 hours, although the decision had to be made immediately. The interruption therefore became final because it could not be done otherwise. The injury was confirmed by all the tests and the fact that he cannot play even today».

For their part, Olympiakos’ lawyers argued that there was no injury identified and recorded by the match doctor, that the match was stopped because two and a half hours had passed, while they also questioned the authenticity of referee Maresca’s letter regarding his supplementary report. THE Mr. Dimakopoulos emphasized: “It is a fact that the arbitrator is a judicial body, he issues decisions, sometimes with the help of technology, either through an assistant, or decisions that are completely dependent on some other body, which the regulation makes clear. The referee had a dependent decision from the match doctor. What is happening here; What the doctor likes to have through interviews, I will take their opinion into account where primary happened. What they say in their neighborhood and what they say to each other, I don’t care. The doctor says there is no reason to stop. The referee puts in the justification of two because, because the two teams were pressuring the doctor to change his decision. And since more than two hours had passed since the temporary stoppage, the match could not be resumed. It seems inconceivable to me that the referee decided that the match should be stopped due to an injury. It was so simple to say. The judge of the match, the referee, decided on the basis of the two reasons. Since the referee is the judge of the match, imagine if you accept the opposites the next day, if he adds another excuse, so a judge could write different the next day than he originally wrote. According to the regulations, the decision is the match sheet, which cannot be attributed to PAE Olympiacos. We ask that there is no fault, that it is fair according to what is written on the match sheet, that it does not wrong anyone, that the two teams finish and if Panathinaikos wins, goodbye with joy, the same for Olympiakos».

The second of the Piraeus lawyers, Mr. Hatzisavvaoglouhe said: “We have specific matches and your court is bound by documents, the observer’s report, match sheet and police report. It is not possible to punish any team using various tricks. The code says that the physical injury is ascertained by the doctor. You have to establish physical harm, whether I see physical harm or not. To determine if there is damage with the means he has and let him make a mistake. Does the match sheet say physical injury? Finding physical damage from a point on the score sheet or from the doctor’s report? At no point. If the doctor admits that there is a physical injury, then he starts the process of evaluating its characteristics. Here the first stage has been established, the existence of an injury, we question the injury. It did not appear from the match sheet that the match was stopped due to injury. It appears to have been discontinued due to the passage of time. Does searching for 2.5 hours but not finding what you have, no injury? Olympiacos gave their own message, made an announcement, came out to play, Panathinaikos left the field.. We ask for our release».

The third legal representative of Olympiakos, Mr. Karpetopouloswrite down: “There is an essential difference with the Garcia case. There was another regulation then and another now. The legislator decided to entrust the judgment of the injury to the match doctor. A body of doctors who are objective has been created. Panathinaikos asks him to move away from whether the doctor said if there is an injury and go to the fact that the referee decided to stop the match. The doctor’s opinion is specific. He says he doesn’t have a clear picture.Concerning the content, the supplementary report cannot be used because it contradicts the match sheet. How do you know this report is the referee’s? I received an email with your name and I will publish it in the newspaper. The federation that 10 days ago told us that the definition made by the Italian FO, the Italian Federation is nowhere in it. There is no validity. They send an email with Maresca’s name and Mr. Mandalo’s signature. We question the validity of the document».

It should be noted that the home team is at risk of being eliminated, losing the match 3-0, deducting one point, home penalty for 2-4 matches and a large fine. It will be decided either to stop the derby definitively with the awarding of the match to Panathinaikos and the prescribed penalties to Olympiakos, or to continue the match from the moment of the stoppage, on a new date. From there, the case may continue in second instance at the EPO Appeals Committee, but may even reach the CAS.