Maccabi Tel Aviv and especially Vladan Ivić were welcomed in Thessaloniki where they are preparing for the return match against Ares (Thursday, 21:00, Sport1), but there are those who are less pleased with the team’s presence in the city, which requires increased police preparation. Last night the group dined at a local restaurant, and received a special escort from the Thessaloniki police which included a mounted patrol force, two police officers and a security guard.
In response, the president of the Thessaloniki police union sent a letter of complaint to the municipality. “Citizens are promiscuous in the neighborhoods, and we need to give VIP treatment to a soccer team from abroad?” he wrote. “At some point, someone will have to explain these decisions to us, because they seem illogical. Deploy so many police forces so a football team can have dinner? And what about protecting the city’s residents? We demand answers.”