Photo Gallery The Ultimate Grudge Match
Greece and Germany will meet on Friday, June 22 in the quarterfinals of the 2012 European Football Championship. It is being touted as the ultimate grudge match, as debt-stricken Greece has the opportunity to take revenge on its biggest and most critical creditor, Germany.
The Greek public has been outraged by Angela Merkel's tough stance in the Greek debt crisis, insisting on strict austerity measures in return for a bailout. Here, riot police walk past "Bank of Berlin" graffiti on the Greece's central bank building in Athens.
Greek football coach Fernando Santos knows that his team's performance in Euro 2012 will have positive repercussions on his country's low morale. "We want to make people back in Greece happy, to give them something to celebrate," said Samaras.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, may be a keen football fan, but Joachim Löw refused to get drawn into a political debate ahead of the match. "We've made an agreement that she doesn't meddle in the line-up and tactics and I don't do that with her political statements," he said.
Seen here during a training session, the Greek football team says that it is focused on winning. Their captain, Giorgos Karagounis, told reporters that Greece's debt woes had encouraged his teammates to perform well on the pitch. "When we left Greece, we all said, 'Really give it everything'. We would have anyway, but the (hardship) made us fight more."
Meanwhile, the German players are trying to steer clear of the topic of Greece's bailout. Germany defender Holger Badstuber told the press that that it was irrelevant. "We only look to the match," he said. "We leave the politics to others."
Whatever the outcome, fans on both sides will be looking forward to the game. Here, two Germany fans cheer for their team at the match against Denmark in the Arena Lviv in Ukraine.
Germany beat Denmark 2:1, kicking the Scandinavian team out of the tournament, leading to jubilant celebration by the team's fans.
And the Greek fans are just as colorful. Here, one of them cheers during the Greece-Russia match at National Stadium in Warsaw.
Other costumes on display by Greek fans included ancient-Greek warrior helmets. And the Greek team certainly displayed warrior-like tendencies when they...
..unexpectedly beat Russia in Warsaw. Here the players celebrate as they continue to the next stage of the tournament.
But their next match will be a tough one. They will be playing undefeated Germany, seen here celebrating their win over Denmark in Lviv.
German coach Löw has said the Greeks are not to be discounted, and a few pundits agree. But the overwhelming majority of predictions are for a German victory. Naturally, German fans commenting on sports websites concur. They say Germany is not only superior when it comes to all things economic, but it also has a much better football team.
