Sarriegi hoping Greens' story has happy ending

Scoring Panathinaikos FC's Matchday 5 winner at FC Internazionale Milano was an electrifying experience for José Sarriegi, but the defender has told uefa.com he hopes lightning will not strike twice when Anorthosis Famagusta FC visit Athens on Tuesday.

Hero
Following their Matchday 1 defeat by Inter, Panathinaikos were then tripped up by Anorthosis as Sarriegi's own goal set the unheralded Cypriot club on their way to a famous 3-1 victory. The 29-year-old was to become his team's hero, however, when he scored the only goal of the game against Inter in Italy last time out to earn Panathinaikos a second successive group-stage win, and leave them merely needing to avoid defeat in the Greek capital to clinch a place in the first knockout round.

'Important goal'
"It was as if I had been hit by lightning," said Sarriegi of his strike in Milan, which gave Panathinaikos a first-ever win on Italian soil. "I was shouting, 'It's in, the ball is in!' I am not used to scoring and I don't know how to celebrate. I consider myself lucky to have scored that goal. It's the UEFA Champions League, a very tough match, in a legendary stadium, with one of Europe's biggest clubs as an opponent. That goal is important for the club and for the fans." Just how important, Sarriegi was able to guage for himself on his return to Athens. "It was crazy," he said. "I have to thank all those fans who came to the airport at six o'clock in the morning to greet us and celebrate with us. You don't see that every day and it was very pleasing."

Stark contrast
Sarriegi's emotions were in stark contrast to those he felt in Nicosia in early October, when his headed own goal gifted Anorthosis an eleventh-minute lead which they built on to claim all three points and leave Panathinaikos's hopes of reaching the next round in the balance. "I've got bad memories of that match," the former Athletic Club Bilbao defender admitted. "We had travelled to Cyprus in a very optimistic mood after playing well against Inter. But in Nicosia that early own goal was a big blow and we couldn't react to it. It wasn't like the defeat against Inter, where we felt that we had done a good job. When we lost to Anorthosis, we were very sad, very disappointed."

'Great feat'
The disappointment of that reverse will be a distant memory, however, should Henk ten Cate's men claim the point required to clinch their berth in the last 16. Sarriegi added that the squad's goal of pipping Anorthosis to a place in the hat for the first knockout round draw on 19 December would drive them on more than any desire for revenge. "More than making amends for our defeat there, we want to qualify, no matter who our rival is," he said. "We want to progress; that's the most important thing for us. We started this competition in July, went through two qualifying rounds to the group stage and we are on the verge of becoming one of Europe's best 16 teams. That would be a great feat."