PAOK deny Aberdeen racism claim as 'a product of imagination' and praise their own fans for not reacting to Dons celebration

dailyrecord.co.uk:

PAOK have angrily denied Aberdeen’s claims that Pape Habib Gueye was racially abused.The Dons made a statement after Thursday’s 2-2 draw in the Toumba Stadium claiming that their unused sub had been subject to racist shouts from the home support.

The Greek side has claimed the incident “as a product of imagination” and wasn’t flagged up to any PAOK officials.They also praised their fans for not reacting to behaviour of the Aberdeen bench as they celebrated Jamie McGrath’s equaliser.

A PAOK statement read: "There has never been racist behaviour in Toumba, which would not be tolerated anyway. This specific incident is clearly a product of imagination, as it did not come to the attention of any official of the organisation."Instead, the defiant behaviour of the Aberdeen substitutes in their equaliser was evident and to their credit the fans did not react at all."The Dons wrote after the alleged incident on Thursday evening: ""During the second half of this evening’s UEFA Conference League match against PAOK it was brought to our attention that an Aberdeen FC player, Pape Habib Guèye, was the victim of racial abuse from a section of PAOK supporters."Aberdeen FC club staff immediately informed the UEFA Venue Director and following conclusion of the match met with the UEFA Match Delegate to officially report the matter."Pape has the unwavering support of his teammates and all at Aberdeen FC will liaise fully with UEFA during the course of their investigations into this very serious matter."As a club, we have zero tolerance for any form of discrimination or racist abuse.