No joke now as Greece demand respect

Euro 2012 quarter-finalists Greece have had enough of eurozone jokes as well as the ridicule and sharp criticism of their playing style.

They want respect ahead of their quarter-final against Germany.

The Greeks have endured a flood of negative media copy despite battling through Group A with a 1-0 win over favourites Russia to set up a last eight clash Germany.

Whether it is the Italian Rai TV commentator’s expletive-laden description of Greece causing a stir or German football association officials privately demanding a goalfest against the eurozone’s problem child, Greece must be feeling like a pinata at a children’s party.

Comic strips depicting a Greek player snatching the referee’s coin at the toss-up before the start of a game and shouting “a euro” are a daily occurrence.

“Greece are a shit team, a shit team,” said a RAI commentator seconds after Greece had scored what proved to be the winning goal in first-half stoppage time against the Russians.

A Germany football association official (DFB), on the flight back from Lviv after their 2-1 win over Denmark, even privately said whether it was now time for German Chancellor Angela Merkel to attend the game in Gdansk “to stick it into them.”

Comments regarding the quality of their football have not been much kinder.

“People have been slinging mud at us and we are very sad about what has been said. Against Russia we managed to silence them. Now we must keep quiet and keep working,” defender Kyriakos Papadopoulos said.

Keeping quiet would be a wise course of action for a team who qualified undefeated, conceding only five goals.

“The Greeks deserve more respect,” said their coach, Portuguese Fernando Santos. “We all need to pay a bit more respect to them. It is not appropriate for others to give lessons to the Greeks.”