Roy Carroll has warned his Northern Ireland team-mates there is plenty more to Kostas Mitroglou than his farcical Fulham stint suggested.
Michael O'Neill's side are flying high at the top of Group F having won their second Euro 2016 match in succession on Saturday, a 2-0 success over the Faroe Islands, but a tougher test awaits when they face top seeds Greece on Tuesday night.
The trip to Athens is a return to familiar territory for Carroll, who spent two years at Olympiacos before leaving this summer.
The 37-year-old goalkeeper, who made a brilliant penalty save to keep a clean sheet against the Faroes, will be coming up against a handful of former team-mates, including Mitroglou.
The striker arrived at Craven Cottage with an £11million price tag in January and the task of saving Fulham from Premier League relegation.
Instead, having struggled with injury, he fell short of Felix Magath's high physical standards and was largely treated as a pariah, starting just once and featuring from the bench twice more.
He was packed back off to Olympiacos on loan in August and announced his return with the winning goal in a Champions League tie against Atletico Madrid.
It is that Mitroglou that Carroll knows best, not the Fulham misfit.
"He's a quality player," said the veteran shot stopper.
"I know what he's like, he is a player who can score goals from anywhere, he could pop up in the first minute or last minute and score a goal against us.
"He needs good players around him, and when he was at Olympiacos he had good players around him and he scored goals in the league and in the Champions League, which proved how good he was.
"But he went to Fulham and it was very difficult because they were in a bad situation when he moved over and he got injured as well before he went. He was out for two months with a knee injury but he's back now and he's already scored a goal in the Champions League."
Carroll also has plenty of insight into the mentality of the Greek fans and believes Northern Ireland could take advantage of their fickle nature with a strong start.
"I know what fans in Greece are like and hopefully if we can keep them quiet they might turn on their players...the Greek fans can do that," he said.
"They are very passionate especially about their sports; football, basketball water polo, they live for their sports and if the players don't turn it on on Tuesday night they could turn on them.
"They could go either way, they could go crazy or they could be quiet, it depends on the game."
Carroll left Greece with a heavy heart but knew he had to look elsewhere when a change in management saw him shunted to third choice at Olympiacos.
An offer was on the table to join the coaching staff but instead he decided to return to English football, where he is now with Notts County, to keep his international ambitions alive.
"I enjoyed myself in Greece, two and a half years at a great club," he said.
"I'm looking forward to going back because I had great times there and I was disappointed to leave with the family settled but I needed to play more football so I could keep playing for Northern Ireland."
Source: PA
