Tziolis taking Greece's fancy

When your country's most-capped player and hero of your finest sporting achievement talks of you as his possible successor you could be forgiven for getting a little carried away - not so for Greece's talented prospect Alexandros Tziolis.

Zagorakis praise
UEFA EURO 2004™-winning captain Theodoris Zagorakis has singled out the 21-year-old Panathinaikos FC midfielder for praise, leaving Tziolis to respond: "I am very honoured that Theodoris speaks about me in this way. I hope that my presence in the national team continues because in football the most important thing is being consistent and staying around for the duration.” It looks good so far - after picking up only his second international cap in the recent 1-0 friendly defeat against France following his impressive early season form, the Tziolis struck two sumptuous long-range efforts in a 4-0 win over Atromitos FC in the Greek Super League on 19 November, earning him the titles of Most Valuable Player and Best Goal in the weekly competition awards.

Keeping calm
Lung-bursting fitness, excellent technical skills and a fearsome long-range shot are all features of his game, which has had the likes of Zagorakis - who retired from international football this year after 119 caps and the UEFA EURO 2004™ Player of the Tournament award - purring with delight. Despite his joy at the plaudits in only his second full season with Panathinaikos, Tziolis is refreshingly modest. "It's logical that the press write good things about me after a good game, however, the games come around quickly, football continues and we move on to the next game," he said.

Regional pedigree
At first sight of the 1.89m-tall Tziolis, one could be forgiven for thinking that he wandered into the wrong vocation, but despite a youthful flirtation with basketball there was only one game for Tziolis. Born in the northern town of Katerini, he is another in a long line of top players who originate from the Thrace-Macedonia area of Greece. The names that hail from the area read like a who's who of Greek football with the likes of Zagorakis, current national team goalkeeper Antonios Nikopolidis, Themistoklis Nikolaidis, Angelos Charisteas, Traianos Dellas, Zisis Vryzas and Vassilios Tsartas to name only a few.

Panionios break
A six-month-old Tziolis was taken to Germany to where his family emigrated before eventually moving back to his home region when he was nine. He was a football-obsessed youngster and played for local teams until he got his big break at 16 when he was spotted by Panionios NFC and was brought to the Athens club in 2001. After four years at Panionios, Tziolis landed his dream move in the summer of 2005 when he was part of a €1.2m transfer that also took his team-mate and striker Evangelos Mantzios to Panathinaikos. Following a low-key first season during which he played mainly in the youth team Tziolis has truly made his mark this term, scoring twice in eleven Super League appearances.

'Very happy'
Having firmly established himself as a man with a bright future at the club and with big European nights in this season's UEFA Cup and hopefully the UEFA Champions League ahead, Tziolis is excited about the future. "I am very happy and I have much more to offer. No one gives anything for free, you play because you deserve to," Tziolis added. "I want to continue to make forward steps regularly and I will give my best to help the team win titles."