Euro win with a touch of Claret

Last updated : 05 July 2004 By Tony Scholes

But they did just that with a repeat win against the Portuguese to lift the trophy tonight at the Stadium of Light, home of Benfica. Not only that they won it with just a touch of Claret & Blue as former Burnley striker Dimitrios Papadopoulos came on as an 81st minute sub for Zisis Vryzas.

It was his second appearance in the tournament, something that John Motson was clearly unaware of, and on this occasion he was only involved in two incidents. The first earned him a yellow card for a foul and the second saw him win a free kick for a foul.

Not bad for a player who ended the 2002/03 season still struggling to win a place in the Burnley side and who could well have been facing more reserve team football last season had he not moved back to Greece.

That move came just one year ago yesterday on 3rd July 2003 after the club had initially denied he was set to go and it was announced by Barry Kilby who said, “There were essentially three reasons for the sale.

“The first is that the money can be spent by Stan in continuing to build his team for next season. Papadopoulos would also be away a lot of the time next season with his commitment to the Greek Olympic Team and he would also be out of contract at the end of the season and he could have just walked away then.”


I wonder if Papadopoulos is wondering tonight whether he would have been better off staying at Burnley.