Panathinaikos fans banned from traveling to Marseille

Fans of Greek club Panathinaikos have been banned from travelling to Marseille on Tuesday for the third qualifying round of the Champions League, according to an order issued Sunday by the French Interior Ministry. 

The order states that "from midnight to midnight" anyone purporting to be a Panathinaikos supporter or behaving like one is "prohibited between French road, rail, port and airport border points on the one hand and the municipality of Marseille on the other". 

The ministry believes there is "a real and serious risk of confrontation" between supporters of the two clubs, adding that away trips by Panathinaikos "are regularly a source of public disorder" due to the "violent behaviour of some of the team's supporters".

The ministry is particularly concerned by brawls and the throwing of pyrotechnic devices as has happened at previous matches.

The risk is "all the more real given that some supporters" of Marseille, who have close links with Panathinaikos' rivals AEK Athens, "also frequently adopt violent behaviour", the order continues. 

French fans were not permitted by UEFA to travel to Athens for last week's first leg which Panathinaikos won 1-0. 

Last week a young AEK fan was stabbed to death during clashes with supporters of Croatian club Dinamo Zagreb. The match between AEK and Zagreb was postponed.