Greece climb Olympus

Euro 2004 Final/Greece 1 Portugal 0: Their victory was, in the end, all that might have been expected - the product of a disappointing game dictated for the most part by the Portuguese but settled by a single, second-half goal for their opponents.  Emmet Malone reports from Lisbon.

As fairytales go it was a flat ending, but the Stadium of Light reverberated nevertheless to the wild celebrations of 15,000 still slightly disbelieving Greeks as Otto Rehhagel's side completed the greatest upset in the history of international football by coming from the game's wilderness to be crowned champions of Europe.

King Otto, for he is sure to be known by no other title from now on, certainly showed us the value of a well worked plan. The German came here with a simple but sturdy one and a squad of players willing to give everything in their efforts to see it implemented.

An Angelos Charisteas' close-range header 12 minutes into the second period of a game in which the Greeks once again fought and frustrated their opponents every step of the way ensured that they would have their reward.

It is hard to imagine an easy way of winning a tournament like this, but on the way to their triumph Theodoros Zagorakis and the rest of the Greek team sent France and the Czech Republic packing. Spain were held in a game that largely accounted for another of the event's big names, and then, of course, there was the host nation who they ended up beating twice.

As they faced them for the second time last night they were as a tenacious as ever, with those who suspected that the occasion might affect the collective nerve of a group who had already vastly exceeded expectation learning very early on that that would not be a factor in deciding this final.

Across the back, Georgios Seitaridis, Traianos Dellas and Mihalis Kapsis all produced commanding displays again, and though Portugal's manager Luiz Felipe Scolari sought, as he had done successfully against the English, to undo them late on with sheer weight of numbers in attack, the Greeks would simply not surrender their lead.

In a game disrupted late on by numerous minor stoppages and, at one stage, a Barcelona fan who made it onto the pitch where he threw a club flag at Figo, the Portuguese enjoyed the possession but never the inspired football or raw passion that had been so abundant in their previous games of the knockout stage.

Figo and his team-mates toiled to salvage the situation as Scolari and some 45,000 of the team's supporters looked helplessly on, but the Portuguese, despite dominating the game from beginning to end, could muster no more than a string of half-chances and hastily struck, long-range shots.

The best opportunities fell to Ronaldo and Figo during the last 20 minutes, but the Manchester United winger, who was generally subdued by some fine defending, could not find the required finish at the key moment, and his veteran team-mate saw one weak shot saved and another, slightly better, one deflected just wide of the target.

The game went much as would have been expected, with the Portuguese looking to make most of the running and their opponents happy to sit back and take whatever the hosts had to offer.

There was the occasional counter-attack, but generally Rehhagel's men conceded a good deal of territory to the locals and then got so many bodies behind the ball in the final third of the pitch that it was difficult for the likes of Deco, Figo and Maniche to pick out team-mates in threatening positions.

Ronaldo fared particularly badly for long spells despite the Greeks having reverted from the man-marking approach that had served them so well in recent matches to a flat back four in which Kapsis assumed most of the responsibility for looking after Pauleta.

The full backs sought to contain the constantly switching Portuguese wide men, and Konstantinos Katsouranis sat in front of the central defence in the hope of limiting the influence of Deco.

One promising avenue for the hosts during the opening 30 minutes was down the right, where the tendency of Ronaldo and especially Figo to drift inside and bring the Greek left back, Panagiotis Fyssas, with them opened up a lot of space for Miguel to move on into. Before the break, however, the Benfica defender picked up a knock in a tangle with Stylianos Giannakopoulos and had to be replaced with Paulo Ferreira.

The start of the second half initially brought a noticeable improvement to a game that had been terribly disjointed. Portugal stepped up their attacks but still found it difficult to generate clear-cut chances. Too many of their crosses were fractionally misplaced, the Greeks dominated in the air around their area and Deco, though some of his passing was marvellous, struck a succession of overhit free-kicks.

Their growing emphasis on attack also left more space at the back for the Greeks to break into, and 12 minutes into the second period Nuno Gomes was forced to concede a corner in order to curtail the threat from one counter-attack.

Angelis Basinas stepped up to float it in and Charisteas rose high to turn the ball home from just beyond the near post. The home support was stunned, the visitors ecstatic, and little that happened during the remainder of the game changed the mood amongst both camps.

Rui Costa and Nuno Gomes came on but could make little difference. Antonios Nikopolidis made a couple of decent saves but was never required to be heroic. That, however, is precisely how he and the rest of the Greeks are sure to be viewed upon their arrival back in Athens today.

After their staggering achievements of the past three weeks it would be difficult to begrudge them their acclaim.