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EURO MOMENTS
THEODOROS ZAGORAKIS GREECE 2004
XAVI SPAIN 2008
“When the referee ended the match, it was as if the lights went out... the constant smile of an idiot on my face for I don’t know how many minutes.” Zagorakis recalls. “Unbelievable moments. We have given the Greek people a great pride which they will be able to carry with them for the rest of their lives.”
took them to the finals and there, under the guidance of German coach, Otto Rehhagel, they proceeded to defeat the much-fancied hosts in the opening game. In the last game the pertinacious Greeks, held
A
together by defensive midfielder Theodoros Zagorakis, who was named player of the tournament, again beat Portugal, with Angelos Charisteas netting the winner in the 57th minute. It was a remarkable achievement and ranks as highly as Denmark’s shock win in 1992. “Once we had scored, it was difficult for the opposition to beat 11 players who passionately defended what they had achieved – that was the Greek team,” said Zagorakis. “Whoever got to play fought tooth and nail for the team. Instead of getting tired, we started covering more ground and it became evident that we wanted the cup more.”
ITV GUIDE | EURO 2012
www.itv.com/sport/football
fter defeat in their first two qualifying games Greece looked as though they would not even appear at Euro 2004 in Portugal, never mind win the tournament. But a run of six victories
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ollowing 44 inglorious years after Spain’s European Championships win in 1964, La Roja
(The Red) managed, for once, to make the most of their staggering talents and defeated Germany 1-0 in the final. Fernando Torres netted the winning goal, but Spain played breath-taking one- or two-touch football, thanks to the coaching philosophy of Luis Aragonés. The blueprint helped the
country win the World Cup in South Africa two years later, and Spain enter this year’s
tournament as firm favourites to become the first side to retain their European crown.
Xavi, the team’s star performer and metronome in 2008,
said: “The revolution started with Luis and we changed this ‘furious’ attitude to one of having the ball. We proved to the world that you can win in style. Had we not won the Euros we wouldn’t have won the [2010] World Cup.”
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