Greece begin the defence of their European title against Sweden this evening and manager Otto Rehhagel is urging his team to "seize their opportunities", just as they did in Portugal four years ago.

Greece shocked the football community in 2004 with disciplined performances that led to a quarter-final victory against France, a semi-final win over the Czech Republic and a 1-0 win against the hosts in the final.

They are unlikely to be underestimated this time round but Rehhagel is content with their preparation so far and has no injury concerns ahead of tonight's game in Salzburg.

"We have concluded our preparations and the tension is mounting. We are really looking forward to kicking off," the 69-year-old told uefa.com. "The first couple of matches in the tournament have shown that this will be a great event because the teams appear to be in it with all their hearts."

If Greece could repeat the success of 2004 it would be the first time a team has won back-to-back championships, but the German is not getting ahead of himself.

"Well, this summer I will have been Greece coach for seven years and this is already a record which I think will be difficult for anyone else to achieve," Rehhagel said. "But I know what my team are capable of, what opportunities we have - and what we must do now is seize these opportunities."

Sweden also have reasonable pedigree in the tournament.  They were semi-finalists when hosts in 1992 and were beaten on penalties in the semi-final by Portugal in 2004.

Coach Lars Lagerback expects a tight match and will be hoping striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic is no longer feeling the effects of the knee injury that has hindered his preparation.

"I think it's going to be a very even match," he said. "We know Greece pretty well and I'm sure they know us too. They are very strong physically, have good variation in attack and, above all, they are good at set-pieces.

Like his counterpart this evening, Lagerback is not predicting anything, but he admits they have lofty ambitions.

"It's quite natural for expectations to grow for us, because we want to have better results than we've had in the past, but of course it's important to be realistic as well," added Lagerback. "I think it's going to be a tight group but we feel we have a good chance to progress."