 Greece's Stelios Giannakopoulos admitted yesterday that never in his wildest dreams did he believe he would be the proud owner of a Euro 2004 winners medal. Giannakopoulos played in last night's Euro 2004 final win over hosts Portugal at the Estadio da Luz when a second-half goal from Angelos Charisteas saw the Greeks complete a fairytale that scarcely seemed possible at the start of the tournament. The Greeks arrived in Portugal in the unenviable position of having never won a match in a major tournament and were cast in the role as cannon fodder with only big-stage debutants Latvia having an inferior record in competition of the 16 finalists. The football world has been amazed at the odyssey of the Greeks but Giannakopoulos himself admitted he had never anticipated winning what - in TV ratings terms - is the third biggest sports event on the planet after the Olympics and the World Cup. The Bolton midfielder said: "I feel great, really great and for us this is a dream become reality. "We were untouchable - we deserve this, the players, the coach (Otto Rehhagel), the supporters and the Greek people all over the world." Giannakopoulos said when he and his team-mates arrived in Portugal that thoughts of lifting the Henri Delaunay Trophy did not enter his head. "To be honest I did not think we could win the cup. We came here hoping to play some nice football, to enjoy ourselves and to give a good account of ourselves. "We saw no reason to believe we could win but slowly we started to gain confidence and we took every game as it came." In the final the Greeks played a spoiling game that neutralised all the attacking ambitions of the Portuguese before Charisteas headed home a corner from Angelis Basinas. Giannakopoulos said the Greeks won ugly but insisted that they had to stick to their game plan. "We have to modify our game to the weapons we have at our disposition and that's what we did," said Giannakopoulos who only played because of the suspension that ruled Georgios Karagounis out of the final. "If you give space to players like (France playmaker Zinedine) Zidane it is a mistake but we denied them space and we did the same with the Portuguese players. "If you have true belief in yourselves you can do much better than if you don't and this is the meaning of football." Giannakopoulos said that the victory was one of the best moments of his life. The shaven-headed midfielder said he had spared a thought for his team-mates at Bolton, saying: "I dedicate this win to them or a little piece of it anyway. "Now we must go back to Athens - we will not need a plane we can fly their all by ourselves." | 
