Athens deaths force postponement of league play-off

THE Greek League play-off between PAOK Thessaloniki and Olympiakos was rescheduled after three bank employees were killed when their Athens workplace was set on fire by rioting protesters in violent anti-government demonstrations.

The game, part of a series for entry into Champions League qualifying and the Europa League, was due to take place last night, but following the incident in Athens, it is now scheduled to take place tonight. The protests have been caused by new austerity measures which are designed to stop heavily indebted Greece defaulting on loans. In the other play-off, AEK Athens will host Aris Thessaloniki at Olympic Stadium today. The match was rescheduled from last night due to public transport being affected by a general strike.

In Spain, Alvaro Negredo scored twice to lead Sevilla to a 5-1 win over Racing Santander in La Liga. Frederic Kanoute, Diego Capel and Jesus Navas also scored for Sevilla, while Mohamed Tchite pulled one back for Santander.

Barcelona leads the standings on 93 points, four points ahead of second-place Real Madrid, who were due to play Mallorca in the late night match.

Valencia are third with 68 points. Sevilla have 60 points, one more than Mallorca before their match against Real.

In other La Liga games last night Atletico Madrid beat Valladolid 3-1; Zaragoza edged Espanyol 1-0; Osasuna cruised past Deportivo La Coruna 3-1, while Athletic Bilbao and Malaga fought out a 1-1 draw.

• Shakhtar Donetsk beat arch-rivals Dynamo Kiev 1-0 in their top-of-the table clash last night to clinch the Ukrainian title.

A first-half strike by Brazilian defender Ilsinho was enough for Shakhtar to claim their fourth league crown in the last six years and their fifth since 2002. The win gave Shakhtar 74 points and a six-point lead over second-placed Dynamo with one round of matches remaining.