German club Schalke 04 accused police of being unnecessarily tough with their fans after moving in to remove a controversial banner during their 1-1 draw against Greece’s PAOK in their Cham-pions League play-off tie on Wednesday.

Riot police, using pepper spray and rubber batons, briefly moved into the stands to remove a Macedonian banner unfurled by the home supporters that had angered the visiting fans, with Greece in a long-standing name dispute with its northern neighbour.

“This deployment, however, was completely disproportionate. We cannot approve any of this, nor do we have any understanding for it,” said Schalke board member Peter Peters in a statement.

Schalke said despite repeated efforts to have the fans remove it, the banner remained, further angering the Greek supporters.

“Fans in the north tribune had unfurled a banner of “Komiti Skopje”, the ultras of (Macedonian club) Vardar Skopje who are friends of the Schalke 04 ultras,” the club said.

“According to police it was a case of agitation.”

The incident in the second half lasted only a few minutes and was barely noticed by players and coaches of the two teams.

Schalke captain Benedikt Howedes remains optimistic that the Bundesliga club can still qualify for the group stage despite failing to beat PAOK this week.

The result at the Arena AufSchalke gives the Greek side a slender advantage going into the second leg next Tuesday and Howedes expects it to be hard for his team to break them down and get the minimum one goal they now need to go through.

“I presume that PAOK will play similar to how they played here,” Howedes said.

“They are going to bunker themselves in at the back and wait for a chance on the counter attack and hope to land a lucky punch.

“We’re going to have to prevent that happening while getting a goal ourselves.”