Thursday Sep 29 2005 22:25
Greece's German coach Otto Rehhagel was elated after his side's fairytale run in Euro 2004 continued with a dramatic 1-0 semi-final win over the Czech Republic.
Traianos Dellas became a national hero as he headed home a Silver Goal extra-time winner in Porto's Estadio Dragao and set up a final against hosts Portugal on Sunday.
Afterwards, Rehhagel beamed: "The fairytale continues, it's unbelievable what they did. It's a true miracle.
"The Czechs were technically better but the passion and the will was on our side.
"We had nothing to lose, we could risk everything. We could play for all or nothing.
"We worked hard for this for three years, step by step. The team has won tremendous confidence. We've made some fortunate decisions and they've worked out.
"Now we'll have the fairytale final. We beat the Portuguese in the first match and they managed to stay in the tournament and now it's the dream final against us, a chance to get revenge for the first match.
"We're the underdogs, but we have nothing to lose. In football everything is possible, we don't have anything to lose."
Matchwinner Dellas was understandably exultant, adding: "We did an unrepeatable thing.
"We deserve to be in the final, we proved we have an organised and good team. At the end God gave us the win."
Substitute Stelios Giannakopoulos concluded: "It was a brilliant day for us and a black day for the Czechs.
"We live in a dream, it's wonderful, and we don't want to wake up."
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