There is nothing like a military exercise. So much security and riot police, including shields, were present on Tuesday evening when the PSV team bus arrived at the stadium of opponent Olympiakos. The Eindhoven residents entered the stadium for the Champions League match in an unrecognizable tour bus. The accompanying fans were also led into the stadium hours before the match.
While we are used to riot vans in the Netherlands, in Greece they use riot vans. It’s like going on a school trip, but full of riot police with shields. The entire route around the stadium has been cordoned off by local units and fans are not even allowed to watch from the side.
What is not necessary around a football match. There are security guards on motorcycles everywhere and a platoon of riot police is ready to lead the bus into the stadium. And in the end she succeeds. The players enter the stadium through a lock on an unrecognizable bus. From the moment the bus comes into view, the home fans, who are present in the Georgios Karaiskákis Stadium hours before the start, shout loudly from the stands.
Finish your beer early in the afternoon
The 1,600 away fans have also been in the stadium for a while. They were sent by bus from the fan zone to the stadium at five o’clock Dutch time, to prevent a confrontation with the Greeks. And that section is really a cage. You enter the away section with barbed wire above your head. It is also expected that fans will not be allowed to leave the stadium until hours after the final whistle.
But the atmosphere is already good this afternoon, so good that the beer is already gone in the fan zone at half past four local time. “You know that when people from Brabant come,” says one of the fans. The fan zone is completely full early in the afternoon and fans have to wait in line to get into the rooftop bar, with a view of the famous Acropolis.
The Champions League match between PSV and Olympiakos starts on Tuesday evening at nine o’clock. PSV starts the match with the following names: Kovar; Salah-Eddine, Gasiorowski, Schouten, Dest; Mauro Júnior, Veerman, Saibari; Perisic, Til, Man.