Tzolis after historic Greece win: “I’m happy it happened today!”

Christos Tzolis played a key role as Greece secured a historic 1-0 victory over Germany in Augsburg. The former Fortuna Düsseldorf winger was delighted with the result and explained how Greece deliberately avoided playing into Germany's pressing game.

Christos Tzolis for Greece against Germany.

Photo: Alex Grimm / Getty Images.

Christos Tzolis was delighted after Greece secured their first-ever victory over Germany, with the former Fortuna Düsseldorf winger describing the historic win as a special moment.

"It feels great to win here. It was a tough time for us," Tzolis said after the game. "It is the first time Greece have won against Germany. I'm happy it happened today."

Greece defended resolutely throughout the match and frustrated Germany's attack before Dimitris Kourbelis scored the decisive goal in the second half. Tzolis admitted that there was an element of luck involved in the goal, but felt Greece deserved the result based on their overall performance.

"Our goal was a bit lucky, but we played our game how we wanted to and we're happy with the result," he explained.

The Greece winger also revealed how his side approached the game against Jürgen Klopp's team. Greece expected Germany to press aggressively and therefore wanted to avoid getting drawn into their style of play.

"We knew they'd be aggressive in pressing, so we didn't want to play their game, but ours," Tzolis said.

The plan was to use long balls and attack quickly whenever Germany's pressing structure left space. "Long balls, counter-attacks when they're not pressing," he added. "I feel like they actually didn't create too much, which surprised me."

Greece were also prepared to capitalise on mistakes, according to Tzolis. "We knew they'd also make mistakes and we just knew we had to be there in these specific moments," he said.