Turkey hails heroes of Athens

Jubilant headlines spilled from the back pages to the front ones after Turkey celebrated a 4-1 away win against neighbours Greece on Saturday.

'Conquerors of Athens'
The tabloid Hürriyet took the lead, leading their coverage of the match with the headline 'Conquerors of Athens'. Describing the match as an "epic", the paper was unsparing in its praise for Fatih Terim and his men, who had gone into the match with 12 players injured or suspended.

Remarkable comeback
Greece took the lead after just five minutes of the game at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium but Tuncay Sanli, Gökhan Ünal, Tümer Metin and Gökdeniz Karadeniz turned the match around to lift Turkey three points clear of their neighbours at the top of UEFA EURO 2008™ qualifying Group C.

Next game
Terim was thrilled with his side's display, but said that any talk of having earned a historic victory would be put on hold until after Wednesday night, when Turkey will hope to earn their fifth successive victory since the start of qualification against Norway on neutral ground in Frankfurt.

Delayed gratification
"Those who played their part in this success when there was such a massive number of injured players in our squad will take their places in history, but their achievements will only be complete if they win the match against Norway," insisted the experienced coach.

Best start
Terim believed that his side had caught Greece by surprise after going a goal down so early and attributed their success to "fielding a team of ambitious players and pressing the opposition up front" as they celebrated their best ever start to a UEFA European Championship qualifying campaign.

Inspiring performance
He hoped that the win could spark a new era for Turkish football, saying: "Turkey's achievements in the past came thanks to combative football and having a desire for victory. I have said many times that we need a revival both at club and international level. This victory could give us that boost."

No complaints
Greece coach Otto Rehhagel had few complaints about the European champions' result. "Although we got an early goal, we couldn't keep up with Turkey's tempo and they got better by the minute," said the German. "In the end, they earned a fair victory here."