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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Robert Hynes

Thousands of Irish fans 'locked' outside stadium prior to Greece clash in Athens

Thousands of Irish fans with tickets were reportedly "locked" out of the AEK Stadium prior to the Republic of Ireland's clash with Greece on Friday night.

It is understood that one of the gates into the stadium in Athens was not functioning, leaving a large number of supporters stuck outside.

However, shortly after kick-off a large number of fans were seen piling into the upper tiers of the ground.

READ MORE: Greece v Ireland LIVE updates from the Euro 2024 qualifier

A number of Irish supporters took to social media to highlight issues they faced getting into the stadium.

One wrote: "Nearly 10 minutes to kick off and the turnstiles to the AEK stadium have been locked to thousands of Irish fans outside. What is going on??"

Someone else said: "Fans locked out of stadium with tickets."

Another fan tweeted: "Ireland fans locked out of stadium in Athens."

Adam Idah was handed a first start for Ireland since November 2021 as Stephen Kenny looked for a first win of their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign in Greece.

The Norwich striker, who spent six months on the sidelines after suffering a knee injury in February last year, was included along with Brighton teenager Evan Ferguson in one of four changes to the side which lost 1-0 to France in March.

Middlesbrough defender Darragh Lenihan, Cardiff midfielder Callum O’Dowda and Southampton midfielder Will Smallbone, who spent last season on loan at Stoke, also made the starting line-up as Seamus Coleman, Dara O’Shea, Jason Knight and Chiedozie Ogbene dropped out.

Greece coach Gus Poyet kept faith with nine of the men who helped their side to a 3-0 win over Gibraltar in their opening fixture, with midfielder Dimitris Kourbelis and striker Vangelis Pavlidis replacing Manolis Siopis and Celtic old boy Giorgos Giakoumakis.

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