Half an hour an hour of action and his work was done. That was the extent of Giorgos Giakoumakis, gametime as Greece lost 1-0 to Montenegro last night and a relief no doubt to any of us counting the players returning from international duty and hoping for a clean bill of health.
AZ Alkmaar forward Vangelis Pavlidis started the match in place of the Celtic striker, and it was the AZ striker Giakoumakis replaced after 61 minutes last night. And with no reports of any injuries, Celtic’s 12 goal striker – eleven of them in 2022 alongside back-to-back hat-trick scorer in his last two matches at Celtic Park – should be fit enough to lead the line at Ibrox this Sunday, something he did superbly in the ‘skelping handed out to theRangers on 2 February.
61′ Three changes from Greece
In: Mantalos, Chatzigiovanis, Giakoumakis
Out: Douvikas, Pavlidis, Siopis#MNEGRE | #Ethniki— Hellas Football (@HellasFooty) March 28, 2022
Giakoumakis played for over an hour in Greece’s 1-0 win over Romania on Tuesday. And in Gus Poyet’s first game as the new boss of the Greek national side, Giakoumakis made a good impression. Indeed, only an offside flag stopped the Celtic striker from grabbing a goal on his return to the international fold against the Romanians, after a lovely flicked finish was denied by the linesman’s flag.
Once again, the Greek striker didn’t manage to score, in a disappointing result and performance for any of a Greek persuasion, but let’s be honest the call-up, even without a goal to put the icing on the cake, will have been enough to ensure Giakoumakis’ confidence remains high ahead of this weekend’s Glasgow Derby. And after giving theRangers defence a torrid evening last time out, he’s very much the man we’ll be looking to work the Ibrox backline again this Sunday.
Niall J
