Damian Casalinuovo is no stranger to football fanaticism and he insists Dundee United can use the volatility of the AEK Athens supporters to their advantage.
The Greek side are still coming to terms with the events of the weekend, when manager Dusan Bajevic was attacked by his own supporters at a supposed friendly, which had to be abandoned due to an onfield riot.
So United could be thrown into a cauldron at the Olympic Stadium in Athens when they travel to play the second leg of their Europa League play-off round tie on August 26.
Casalinuovo has seen hooliganism at first hand back home in Argentina and he thinks if the AEK fans turn nasty it can work against them and for the Tannadice men.
“I heard about what happened in Athens from one of the other players and then I read it in the Argentinian newspapers online,” said the striker.
“There are three or four Argentinians playing for AEK so it was big news back home.
“It was crazy and who knows what will happen if we win.
“Mind you, the pressure could be on AEK now because their fans will demand a result.
“That might work to our advantage.”
Casalinuovo is well versed in the darker side of the sport as in 2008 he was farmed out to Platense from Velez Sarsfield and after a bad start to the season their training ground was besieged by “fans” who demanded they start winning.
His family were at a game days later but had to leave when it all turned sour.Hooligans”When I was with Platense things were not good and some hooligans came into the dressing-room after training one day,” he recalled.
“We were playing Old Boys at the weekend and the team were doing badly.
“They came to us and said, ‘Right guys, this needs to get better or we will be relegated.’
“It was very threatening.
“I was just a young boy so it was a horrible thing to experience.
“My family were at the match but they left because the hooligans were shouting at us.Fighting”My father waited outside for me when the game was over and there was fighting.
“In Argentina this sort of thing is common and there are also cases of fans coming on to the park to get games abandoned just because they are losing.
“In the lower leagues supporters are not allowed to go to away games to prevent clashes.
“However, it is not very often a manager gets punched even in Argentina.”
Meanwhile, United striker David Goodwillie has suffered a recurrence of his groin injury and could miss Saturday’s SPL season opener with St Mirren.
But Francisco Sandaza will resume full training today after injuring his hamstring, while Jon Daly and Craig Conway are on course to face the Buddies.Tannadice tickets United’s Europa League match against AEK Athens at Tannadice will kick off at 8pm on Thursday, August 19, and will be all ticket.A three-day priority sales period for season ticket holders only starts on Wednesday, with general sales starting on Saturday.
Tickets may be purchased in person at the ticket office in the club shop, by telephone on 01382 833166 (options 1 and 3) or by an online facility.
Ticket holders should present Voucher A from their season ticket book if purchasing in person at the shop, or quote their season ticket seat number for verification purposes if ordering by telephone or online.
The ticket office is open from 9am-5pm on weekdays and will open from 9am-4pm this Saturday, with Sunday opening from noon until 4pm.
Top tiers (adults £25, concessions £13). Lower tiers (adults £22, concessions £12).