Greece Vs Spain: Another last minute goal wins it for Spain
June 18 2008. EURO 2008 has been studded with teams showing attacking instincts for overpowering others and marching into the quarters. The one team, which lacked that instinct and eventually failed to qualify for the next stage, was the Champions from the previous edition of European Championships, Greece.
With defeats against Sweden and Russia, they were already knocked out of the competition and looking to salvage some pride in their final league game against Group D leader, Spain. Spanish side was riding on a majority of changes with only one player, Andres Iniesta, in the playing eleven, who played in the ties against Swedes and the Russians. Again, Greek Coach, Otto Rehhagel, also came up with a new look side from their previous two games.
Luis Aragones Spanish Side started the game with their usual flair and attack, as they dominated the early part of the game with the ball sitting in Greek half. However, the former Champions struck back with a spirited performance and it was three minutes from the first half when Charisteas went past Spanish Keeper on the night, Jose Reina, to hand his team with a 1-0 lead going into the second half.
Aragones resisted the temptation of bringing in his star players with his side a goal behind and his players on the field did him justice. Xabi Alonso, skipper for the night, came close of equalizing, as he hit the bar just after resuming. However, the equalizer came from De La Red, who shot past Nikopolidis (playing his last game). After a scintillating second half, the winner came from leading scorer of La Liga, Dani Guiza, who headed a goal just couple of minutes from the end making it 2-1 for Spain and ending any hopes of retribution for Greek Side.