Otto Rehhagel has described Greece's shock triumph at Euro 2004 as a "sensation".
Rehhagel's men were 100-1 shots to lift the Henri Delaunay Trophy in Lisbon but carved their way through to the final with several shock results before staging a repeat of their opening-day win over the hosts to win the tournament.
And though their German coach admitted it was an upset, he is enormously proud of the achievement.
"It was an unusual achievement for Greek football and especially for European football. The team played great football," said Rehhagel after Angelos Charisteas' second-half goal secured a 1-0 final victory.
"We took advantage of our chances. The opponent was technically better than us but we took advantage of our chances. We should have made it 2-0.
"The Greeks made football history today. It's a sensation."
Rehhagel side-stepped questions as to whether he would now be
lured into becoming the new Germany boss ahead of the 2006 World Cup in his
homeland.
"Now is the time for the team. We are off to the hotel to celebrate this
victory and there is no place for any other words," he insisted.
Rehhagel then added: "Sport speaks for itself. It is amazing how football has
managed to unite all Greeks, something that politics is unable to do.
"I would like to thank the team and everyone involved. We have worked hard
over the past three years to develop the team and now you see the results."
While Rehhagel will inevitably again be criticised for his defensive tactics,
Charisteas had repaid his faith with the winner - his third goal of the tournament.
"Perhaps his manager at Werder Bremen preferred other players but I have
counted on him since the start and we have just seen the result of that," he
declared.
"He was one of the top players in this tournament."
E-mail Article 
Print-Friendly
Subscribe to RSS Feed 
Post to del.icio.us
