DIMITRI Papadopoulos looks to continue his scoring streak for club and country tonight as he leads the line for Greece Under-21s against Armenia in Athens tonight.
And his long term goal is to be back in that famous old city in two years time and helping his country go for Olympic gold!
The striker, who will be 21 on Sunday, was speaking to Greek journalists yesterday evening after starting the European Under-21 Championship qualifying campaign in blistering form.
Papadopoulos grabbed the winner in Greece's opening game against Spain and netted a superb goal that earned a 1-1 draw against Ukraine in Kiev last Friday.
"It has gone very well for me and the team in the first two games but it is only the beginning," he said. "We still have six matches to go starting against Armenia and our aim is to finish in first place.
"The match against Armenia will be hard because they will play defensively so we will have to play very well. I hope I will score again tonight but the most important thing is that the team wins. I have got the goals in the first two games, now it might be someone else."
Papadopoulos stressed that success in this current campaign is the Greeks' first concern but he admitted that the eyes of the players are already looking ahead to the Olympics in their home country in 2004.
"The Olympics is what we will all be trying hard for, of course we all want to do well in them," he said. "That's why we are working hard together and this team is building up."
The striker is happy and settled at Burnley but the regular loss of Papadopoulos to training camps and international games was a massive frustration for Clarets boss Stan Ternent last season and when he returns to Gawthorpe for training on Thursday he will again have been gone for ten days.
He is one of only three players in the Greece Under-21 squad that plays abroad, the others being at Stuttgart in Germany and Siena in Italy.
But Ternent is delighted at the way his player has developed and started to show why he paid £500,000 for his services just over a year ago.
"Dimi is getting better all the time and it sounds like he scored a great goal the other night," he said. "He is doing very well for us."
His pace has troubled several defences this season and he has scored four times for Burnley, three in the Worthington Cup and a vital winner against Stoke City in the league.
Last season his best displays were in the reserves and, after a month without a game, Ronnie Jepson's side returns to action tonight.
That means that Ternent could at last get the chance to see French midfielder Eddie Fal in action as he may play for the reserves against Oldham Athletic at Boundary Park.
Fal has played in France, Holland and Scotland and Ternent admitted: "He should have clearance to play against Oldham. He has been with us for a few weeks but we have not had the chance to see him in a match."
It is likely that Fal will be surrounded by a number of young players as Ternent is unwilling to risk too many of his senior players with injuries still a concern.
"We have still got Dimi and Gareth Taylor away and we are hoping that they will come back okay but I don't want to risk aggravating any injuries," he said.
That means a young squad will go to Oldham tonight mainly featuring players from Terry Pashley's youth team.
With Fal still to be confirmed as a definite starter the squad announced this morning was: Salisbury, Pilkington, Scott, Eves, E Davis, Rasmussen, Waine, Blakey, O'Neill, Hindle, Chaplow, Pitham, Grimes, Townsend.
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