Otto's odyssey hits miracle mile

Quarter-finals France v GreeceHaving worked some sort of magic to take Greece here as winners of a qualifying group that also included Spain and then masterminded his side's progress to the quarter-finals, again at the expense of the Spaniards, Otto Rehhagel has been insisting this week that his side need a full-blown miracle if they are to beat France at the Alvalade Stadium in Lisbon this evening.

The 65-year-old is already firmly established as a hero in Greece, where he was once regarded as a mercenary isearch of one last pay-day. These days, having taken honorary citizenship in the wake of qualification, he is commonly referred to as "king Otto" and has signed a contract extension, despite being offered a variety of jobs back in the Bundesliga, the best of which was as coach at Bayer Leverkusen.

The German, however, has spent most of the last three days telling anyone who would listen that this should mark the end of the road for one of the tournament's least glamorous but best organised teams. Apparently, though, they're not paying much attention in Greece, where travel agents have been swamped with inquiries about last-minute trips to Portugal and at least another 5,000 hopeful fans are expected to make the journey.

Rehhagel's approach is understandable for while expectations may be soaring among the team's supporters his side will still start the game as outsiders. The French would be well advised not to underestimate their opponents, however. On the way here Greece won in Spain, just one of a long and impressive run of results, while their victory over Portugal in the opening game last Saturday week almost sent the hosts crashing out in the group stages.

The Greeks subsequently looked solid in another meeting with the Spaniards, which ended in a draw, but against Russia they were ragged, conceding early goals that almost cost them their first place in the knockout stages of a major championship.

Much of the problem for Rehhagel in the Algarve on Sunday appears to have stemmed from the absence of key midfielders Stylianos Giannkopoulos and Giorgios Karagounis, who missed the game because of injury and suspension, respectively.

Karagounis is available again this evening and is virtually certain to reclaim his place in the starting line-up but the Bolton Wanderers midfielder remains a doubt and his pace will be missed on the left if the Greeks are obliged to do without him.

Against Russia, with a place in the last eight there for the taking, the Greeks also seemed to lose their nerve somewhat and if they do not recover it against a vastly experienced French side then there will be little hope for them.

At the back they have some impressive performers, most notably Georgios Seitaridis and Traianos Dellas, which is of crucial importance as Rehhagel's approach has consistently been to have his men sit back, harry opponents on the ball and then strike on the break.

To date, it has proven highly effective and while striker Zisis Vryzas is suspended this evening the hope is that the powerful Angelos Charisteas can further trouble a shaky looking French defence.

Despite bullish talk regarding his side's displays so far, Jacques Santini knows he must tighten things up at the back if the French are to go on and successfully defend their title in nine days' time.

He is handicapped on this occasion, though, by injuries to the two men he has so far used at right back. Willy Sagnol has been ruled out of the rest of the tournament by a broken arm and Wiliam Gallas is struggling with an ankle injury sustained during the second half of the game against Switzerland.

Gallas' prospects of featuring appear to have improved over the past day or so but if he fails to recover then Lilian Thuram is expected to revert to full back with Marcel Desailly reclaiming his place in central defence despite a weak display against Croatia. The error-prone Mikael Silvestre is set to be dropped, with Rangers-bound centre back Jean-Alain Boumsong the likely replacement, and Bizente Lizarazu retaining the left-back position.

Santini would prefer not to make too many changes elsewhere, with his midfield having performed generally well against the Swiss against whom Zinedine Zidane was again particularly impressive. He admitted yesterday, though, that Patrick Vieira is a major doubt with a thigh muscle strain and so Benoit Pedretti stands by. "We don't know whether Patrick will be fit in time," said the coach. "He has played a lot since the tournament and hasn't been able to train for the last three days."

The coach will, meanwhile, be hoping that having ended his barren spell by scoring twice in the last group game Thierry Henry can now embark on something of a run.

FRANCE (probable): Barthez; Thuram, Desailly, Boumsong, Lizarazu; Vieira, Makelele, Pires; Zidane; Trezeguet, Henry.

GREECE (probable): Nikopolidis; Seitaridis, Kapsis, Dellas, Fyssas; Zagorakis, Basinas, Karagounis, Giannakopoulos; Charisteas, Vryzas.