England v Greece ‘should have been halted over extremely dangerous situation’
Keith Hackett believes that the recent Nations League game between England and Greece should have been postponed for a while due to an “extremely dangerous” situation involving laser pens.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the former PGMOL chief, ex-FIFA, and Premier League referee revealed that “the players should have come off until they’d got the culprit.”
A hostile atmosphere was created in Athens as England players were subjected to having lasers shone in their eyes throughout last Thursday’s (14 November) fixture.
Chelsea players were recently subjected to the same treatment during their Europa Conference League clash with Panathinaikos in Greece, but the Three Lions were able to overcome the distractions to win 3-0.
England players should have been removed against Greece
Hackett told Football Insider, “The use of a laser pen in this situation is extremely dangerous for the players and anyone active in the stadium.
“The procedure should have been for the referee or the match delegate – or any match official – to pick this up.
“Every UEFA game has delegates, who represent the organisation, and he should take control of the matter.
“Frankly, the players should have come off until they’d got the culprit.
“With modern technology, albeit not as good in Europe as it is here in England, you have many cameras trained on the spectators.
“This is an important issue that was missed and overlooked; it should have been dealt with.
“If the broadcasters had spotted it, they should have been able to communicate that to the administrators so that action could have been taken immediately.”
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