Back in his home city, West Ham's Konstantinos Mavropanos was on diplomatic form on Wednesday night when asked where his Athenian football allegiances lay.
“I didn’t really support a team,” the defender said. “My father also was a person who liked to watch football but not support a specific one.”
Genuine neutral or not, it is not difficult to imagine why a player in the Greece international’s position might want to keep cards close to chest. This is a fierce football city, divided three ways between Olympiacos, Panathinaikos and AEK, where partisan passions routinely spill over.
As West Ham prepare to meet the former of that trio in the Europa League on Thursday night, their hosts were on Wednesday due in front of a Greek Super League board, set to find out their punishment for crowd trouble at the weekend’s derby against Panathinaikos, which was abandoned mid-match after a visiting player was hit with a firework.
On Wednesday, the club issued a statement specifically urging home fans not to use “laser pointers, smoke flares, firecrackers” nor throw objects, hardly routine procedure.
Indeed, it is the kind of occasion when several in claret and blue may be doubly thankful for James Ward-Prowse’s summer arrival. Corner duty is likely to be a thankless task.
There is no intention to either trivialise the possibility of lines being crossed, nor over-egg the pudding with regards the hostile environment that lies in wait for the Hammers on Thursday night.
David Moyes, though, knows the drill, having been here before on an evening he called one of his most disappointing in management, his Manchester United side beaten 2-0 by Olympiacos in a Champions League knockout tie nine years ago, though they overturned the deficit at Old Trafford the following month.
“You just have to embrace it and enjoy it,” the Scot said. “If you’re a football man you want big atmospheres. What we’ve got to remember is football is a game.
"We are seeing so many things throughout the world. Remember, we’re all here to enjoy a game of football.”
There have been safety concerns around this fixture since the draw was made last month, particularly so given Panathinaikos also play at home on Thursday evening, against Rennes.
Initially, there were indications that UEFA would rearrange one or other fixture and the governing body, like Moyes, must be hoping desperately the night passes without incident.
What is beyond doubt is that even now, three seasons into their European journey and having triumphed on some fiery forays abroad, the test that awaits West Ham on Thursday evening will be on another level.
The prize is a foot in the knockout stages and for players like Mavropanos, short on Premier League minutes, perhaps the chance to hold a shirt for Sunday’s meeting with Everton, given Moyes hinted at changes following the 4-1 thumping at Aston Villa last weekend.
There is also the small matter of a record unbeaten run in Europe to preserve, and even a point on the road would keep the Irons firmly in charge of Group A.
That was the prediction offered by the security guard on duty at Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium on Wednesday night, albeit in hushed tone. A professed lover of English football, the chap in question claimed, bizarrely, to support both Manchester United and Liverpool equally.
Here in Athens, though, as Mavropanos surely knows, there is no room for split loyalty.
