FC Groningen match descends into chaos again: 'No longer against teams from that country'

Dick Lukkien

The "friendly" between FC Groningen and Greek side Volos left Dick Lukkien with an extremely bitter taste. The Eredivisie club's manager was far from happy with the opponent's nasty play and did not hold back when speaking to RTV Noord.

At BV Veendam's stadium, neither Groningen nor Volos found the net. Thom van Bergen in particular should have had his name on the scoresheet at least once, but he missed a big chance both before and after the break.

Afterwards, though, the result hardly mattered at all. Groningen left-back Tyrique Mercera was struck, while Volos player Hamza Mendyl kicked out at Jorg Schreuders.

A week earlier, Groningen had also run into trouble against another Greek side, AEK Athens. In the second half of that match, Pelle Clement took a heavy blow and Felipe Relvas produced a very hard tackle on Travis Hernes.

Later, RTV Noord asked Lukkien whether Groningen should face Greek teams again in next pre-season. "I think it is entirely justified that you ask that question," the coach replied.

"We should not want this again next year. Apparently, if you come from Greece as a football team, you do very strange things, make very strange fouls. We will think about whether we should still want this."

"We were thinking on the bench: what is this about? This apparently comes with Greek teams, and the question is whether we should accept it. I actually don't think so," said Lukkien.

Next up, FC Groningen host Real Valladolid at Euroborg on 1 August, before Lukkien's men begin their Eredivisie season a week later at the same stadium against FC Utrecht.