Burnley release statement on fan stabbing after trip to Athens

Burnley have praised their supporters after confirming that five of their supporters were injured – including a person who received a stab wound to the leg – following their 3-1 Europa League qualifier loss to Olympiacos on Thursday evening.

A brace from Kostas Fortounis and an early second-half goal from Andreas Bouchalakis gives Olympiacos a commanding advantage heading into the return leg at Turf Moor while the club confirmed that the supporters that occurred injuries travelled to the Karaiskakis Stadium independently. Burnley wrote in a statement:

"The vast majority were once again impeccably behaved with the coaching operation to transport supporters to the ground put in place by the club again a great success, as it was in the previous round in Istanbul. "However, five of our supporters were unfortunately injured – including a person who received a stab wound to the leg – and received medical attention at the stadium. "Those injured all travelled independently to the stadium, outside the organised travel operation. "Burnley Football Club is working closely with Olympiakos and the local Greek police to investigate these incidents. A group of 22 supporters were detained by Police ahead of the game for offences relating to drunkenness, in breach of Greek legislation. "They were detained, rather than arrested, and released later on Thursday night without charge."

https://twitter.com/BurnleyOfficial/status/1032734384800055296 Burnley manager Sean Dyche was not happy with the conduct of the Olympiacos players at half-time and said he could not understand how the hosts were able to surround referee Slavko Vinčić at the break.

"They were waiting for the referee. You all saw the feel of the game was different in the second half," he said. "The scenes I saw at half-time from all and sundry around the referee on their side, you're left scratching your head. "All I keep getting told is respect the officials with your conduct around the referee."