A REFEREE denied "fake news" claiming he and three other officials arrived drunk and fought other passengers before officiating a match in Greece.
First official Pawel Raczkowski, his assistants Radoslaw Siejka as well as Adam Kupcik and VAR ref Krzysztof Jakubik have categorically denied those reports and stated they were in fact the ones assaulted.
According to Sport24, the four refs landed in an intoxicated state at Athens International Airport on Saturday, something that was "confirmed" by AEK Athens who were set to face Aris with the Polish refs officiating tonight at OPAP Arena.
There were also claims the referee didn't communicate with Greece's football governing body EPO and "disappeared" after the alleged incident.
However, Raczkowski immediately slammed those reports and insists he and his associates met with the body's chief referee and former Premier League official Steve Bennett soon after.
The Polish referee added that he and his colleagues were actually the ones who were threatened and assaulted by two people claiming to be Panathinaikos fans.
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He added that he was "spat" at in the face and "pushed" by the alleged assailants until security intervened.
Raczkowski issued the following statement: "In relation to the news bulletin about the purported situation at Athens International Airport from the 8th of April 2023, I want to categorically deny being intoxicated or exhibiting aggressive behaviour.
"I was attacked by two Greek speaking Polish men. They identified themselves as Panathinaikos supporters and attacked me first, verbally accusing me of match-fixing, secondly physically by spitting on me an [sic] then pushing me.
"I reported the situation to airport security who calmed the aggressive individuals down.
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2"After this I went directly to the hotel where I stayed all night. I deny all fake news about myself and the whole referee team."
According to Sport.pl, PZPN Referees Board chairman Tomasz Mikulski backed Raczkowski's version of events.
EPO made the decision to replace the four refs with Greek counterparts, led by Aristotelis Diamantopoulos, even though it was decided only international officials would oversee the play-offs.
That led to a fiery response from Olympiacos, who are owned by Nottingham Forest supremo Evangelos Marinakis.
The reigning Greek champions described the "made up" incident as a "coup", a "disgrace" as well as "badly written show" and labelled EPO chiefs as a "gang".
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