Why Greece is the word for Fulham

Giorgos Karagounis wants his Fulham team-mates to invoke the spirit of Greece’s shock European Championship triumph as they bid to go all the way to Wembley.

Karagounis was instrumental in his country recording one of the biggest upsets in football history when international minnows Greece overcame the odds to win Euro 2004. And at the age of 35 he was at it again over the weekend with a stunning late equaliser, his first for Fulham, to earn an FA Cup third-round replay at Championship side Blackpool next Tuesday.

The midfielder (above), snapped up by manager Martin Jol in the summer after his contract with Panathinaikos ran out, is fast becoming a cult hero at Craven Cottage and said: “It was an important goal because it allowed us to stay in the competition but I’d have preferred it to be the winning goal.

“All you can do really do is take one game at a time and build momentum. That’s what we did with Greece nine years ago and look where that got us.”