The Spanish defender Juan Carlos Pérez 'Juankar', a former player among others for Betis, Granada and Málaga, suffered a labyrinthine concussion and partial hearing loss from a firecracker that exploded next to him during the Greek classic between Olympiacos and Panathinaikos, which caused the suspension from last Sunday's match between the two eternal rivals.
The visiting team's left back fell to the ground while warming up on the sideline after a firecracker thrown by Olympiacos fans exploded next to him. The footballer was transferred to the private "Ygeia" hospital, where he remains hospitalized, the Greek sports press reported today.
The first tests he underwent showed partial hearing loss and a labyrinthine shock, a trauma to the inner ear that usually causes instability, nausea and vertigo.
After the incident, which occurred a few minutes after Spanish Diego Martínez's Olympiacos equalized at 1-1, the Panathinaikos players retired to the locker room. The visiting team refused to continue the match and after almost two hours, the match was permanently suspended.
The match between the two main Greek football teams, on the eighth day of the Super League, became agitated in the first minutes of the second half, when Olympiacos scored the tying goal.
Panathinaikos had taken the lead on the scoreboard at half an hour with a free kick taken by Serbian Filip Mladenovic from the side that the local defense could not clear and that Georgios Vagiannidis ended up taking advantage of to beat Alexandros Paschalakis.
But in the 49th minute, the Olympiacos of Spanish Diego Martínez equalized with a pass from the Portuguese Daniel Podence to the Guinean Mady Camara, who pulled with power and beat the Italian Alberto Brignoli with a powerful shot to establish the tie.
The fans at the Piraeus stadium exploded, lighting flares and throwing firecrackers onto the field. One of them exploded next to Juankar, who was a substitute and doing warm-up exercises on the sideline. The Spanish footballer fell to the ground affected. He had to be treated by medical services and was taken away on a stretcher.
According to the Greek sports press, the final result of the match will be decided in a sports court.
