Greece goalscorer Salpingidis answers your tweets

Dimitris Salpingidis equalised for ten-man Greece against co-hosts Poland in the opening game of UEFA EURO 2012 to become the first Greek player to score in both a UEFA European Championship and a FIFA World Cup. It was no wonder then that questions came flooding in via Twitter for the PAOK FC forward, who was keen to stress the importance of team achievements over personal accolades.

@balla_com_cy: How do you feel being the only Greek player to have scored at the final tournament of a UEFA European Championship and FIFA World Cup?

Dimitris Salpingidis: It is something that is very important to me and I feel very happy to have done this, even more so because it was really important for the team as well. At the World Cup we managed to win a match [against Nigeria], but this time my goal allowed us to have the chance to progress in the tournament. However, it is something that you cannot be distracted by. An ambitious person must always look to the future and must look at his team as a whole. This is how I managed to score those goals and I feel really lucky and grateful for that.

@greekfooty: You've scored three huge goals for Greece, in the FIFA World Cup play-offs against Ukraine, in the World Cup group stage against Nigeria and now against Poland. Which did you enjoy most?

Salpingidis: Unfortunately, I cannot choose one. All three are very important, not only to me but to all Greek people and it would be unfair if I chose one.

@GiorgosSim: How did coach Fernando Santos inspire you at half-time to still believe you could get something from the match?

Salpingidis: To tell you the truth, I did not hear his team talk because I was getting warmed up to play the second half. He just gave me some orders and I think he told the other players more or less the same thing. He told us to be more aggressive, which is normal since we were losing the game and that is what we tried to do.

@Marco4J: Is it more satisfying to change a game from the bench or play well for 90 minutes?

Salpingidis: The greatest joy is to be fit at the end of the match and, of course, to have won the match. In my opinion, this is the best thing for any player regardless of whether he played from the first minute or was called in to help later in the game.

@KD_84: What is your favourite position? Striker or winger?

Salpingidis: People tend to ask me this question and I have said that I do not really care. However, the truth is, and you can see this if you take a look at my CV, that my position is as an attacker with a partner, but this is a system which is not too popular with the majority of coaches. Therefore, I have been playing as a right attacking midfielder and have been trying to improve myself and get used to the changes of football on the global scene. This means that if we have a system with three attackers I can play both on the right and in the middle. I am always trying to implement my coach's advice as well as I can on the pitch.