Europa Conference League match delayed by 30 minutes after Maribor fan 'steals banner from Fenerbahce end' leading to clashes between both sets of supporters with police using tear gas

Maribor's Europa Conference League clash with Fenerbahce was delayed by 30 minutes after a clash involving the two sets of supporters.

The Slovenian side hosted their Turkish opponents, trailing 3-1 from last week's first-leg.

With the hosts 1-0 down in the return fixture, chaos sparked in the stands, with Fenerbahce claiming on Twitter that a Maribor fan entered their section and stole a banner - with fans of the Turkish side claiming that the Slovenian supporter was dressed as a steward.

It's then claimed that Fenerbahce fans attacked the home end in order to get the banner back.

This led to wild scenes, with Turkish news agency AA reporting that Slovenian police used tear gas to try and de-escalate the situation.

Players from the Turkish side including Dusan Tadic, as well as manager Ismail Kartal, were seen pleading with fans to try and ease the issue.

A video meanwhile appears to show a Fenerbache player running towards the Maribor fans to try and get the banner back.

Fenerbahce fans were evacuated from the stadium after the tensions failed to go away.

The Turkish side in a statement on Twitter blamed the opposition's fans as they wrote: 'In the match played by our team, when there was no problem in the stands, there were incidents that we will definitely not accept when the fans of the rival team entered our fans and attacked the banner in the stands and removed the banner from the stands.

'The intervention of the police teams working in the stadium against the Slovenian fans who caused this incident was not enough,.

'Our fans and the entire stand, who showed the reflex to take back the banner that was removed from the stands to support Fenerbahce, were unjustly taken out of the stadium.'

The statement adds that they will speak to the UEFA over the incident which they allege was caused by the Maribor fans.

Maribor meanwhile have not yet released a statement regarding the issue.

Irfan Kahveci's strike on 17 minutes had given Fenerbahce the lead on the night.

The game was delayed during the second-half but once the action eventually got back going, further efforts by Sebastian Szymanski and Dusan Tadic completed a 6-1 aggregate triumph.

The Turkish side will now face FC Twente of the Eredivisie in the Europa Conference League play-off round.