Samaras - I am nothing

Greece striker in awe of Messi

Last updated: 18th June 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Samaras - I am nothing

Samaras: Messi meeting

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Greece striker Georgios Samaras admits he will be in awe of Lionel Messi when he comes up against the Argentina ace on Tuesday.

Samaras' side must avoid defeat against the star-studded South Americans if they are to have any chance of progressing to the knockout phase.

Diego Maradona's men have won their opening two matches to top the pile, with Messi pulling the strings in their 4-1 success over South Korea.

Samaras said: "He is a top player. Next to him I am nothing. He is the best in the world."

Attacking

However, the Celtic frontman believes Greece can take confidence from their 2-1 victory against Nigeria and scoffed at suggestions Argentina will field a weakened team.

"It does not matter who plays as they are all great players," he said. "But we will be positive.

"There have been lots of games where we have played attacking football and that will be our aim again.

"We have a chance of going through to the next round and we will fight for it. We are not an easy team to play against as Nigeria found out."

Discipline

The future of 71-year German coach Otto Rehhagel - who led the nation to an extraordinary European Championship success in 2004 - is unclear.

Samaras said: "It is up to him what he wants to do. If he would like to stay, I would be fine with that.

"He has been with the national team for nine years and done some great things.

"We won the European Championship and now we are in the World Cup. He has brought discipline to the team and we are a really close group of players."