....No crowd trouble as Olympiakos trounce AEK
ATHENS, Jan 24 (Reuters)(DS) - Olympiakos Piraeus thrashed AEK Athens 6-1 in the Greek Cup on Wednesday in a return match free from the crowd violence of the opening leg.
AEK coach Yiannis Pathiakakis's weakened team crashed 8-1 on aggregate after the Greek FA (EPO) awarded the abandoned first encounter 2-0 to their bitter rivals.
The game, watched by only 15,000 amid tight security, passed off without any serious incidents reported.
Two weeks ago, a pitch invasion halted the AEK home tie midway through the second half with the score 1-1. AEK followers had hurled missiles and flares on to the pitch before smashing a perimeter fence and streaming on to the playing surface. Two second half dismissals had reduced AEK to nine players then three of their team mates complained of injuries. The EPO said the game had been abandoned because AEK had fewer than seven players.
Grigoris Georgatos gave the Greek champions the lead in the fifth minute and with the exception of a Christos Maladenis goal in the 25th, Olympiakos eased into the quarter-finals. Brazil striker Giovanni scored in the 22nd and 32 minutes and Peter Oforiquaye, Gabriel Alvez and Stelios Giannakopoulos all found the net in the second half.
In addition to the first leg forfeit, cup holders AEK were banned from their Nikos Goumas ground for four matches and fined $6,000. Club director Petros Stathis was fined an banned eight games for allegedly inciting the players to feign injury to stop the match.
The two Athens rivals have a history of crowd trouble and a league fixture between them last season was disrupted by similar incidents.
