Celtic’s Greek striker Georgios Samaras has praised former Aston Villa midfielder Stilian Petrov after the Bulgarian recently announced his retirement from football. Petrov has not played football for more than a year after being diagnosed with leukaemia. He has been undergoing treatment and there was a belief that he would make a return to football. However, the 33-year-old has decided to end his career considering his age and inability to return to full fitness. Petrov is known for his spell at Celtic where he spent seven seasons.
During his career, he scored 64 goals in 268 matches for the club. He moved to Aston Villa back in the summer of 2006 when the club was under the management of Martin O’Neill. Even after the departure of O’Neill, Petrov has been one of the important players at the club. He was the captain of the team before being diagnosed with leukaemia. Samaras has paid tribute to the former Celtic midfielder by saying that the whole squad is thinking about him.
He wants the best of health and happiness to Petrov, while he hopes that he recovers as soon as possible. Petrov has revealed his plans of setting up a charitable trust for cancer patients after admitting that he is extremely overwhelmed by the troubles faced by the affected people.
“It’s really hard to say something about this situation as sometimes you can’t find the right words to say about some things you feel. Myself, all the guys in the dressing room, and, of course, all the people at Celtic and the supporters, wish him all the best for this really difficult battle he is having. I just wish him and his family all the best, and hopefully he will win as he is a fighter,” said Samaras. Celtic manager Neil Lennon also paid his tribute as well.
Tags: 2012, Czech, Euro, Greece, Group, Poland, Republic, Round, RoundUp, Russia
| by admin on May 8, 2013 | 
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Fulham will be preparing to face Premier league strugglers QPR at Craven Cottage on Monday night. QPR are coming into the match on the back of a 3-2 defeat against Aston Villa after having only recently put together a run of two consecutive victories. The defeat against Villa made life extremely difficult for QPR, as they have to make up some points between now and the end of the season in order to have any hope of safety in the Premier league. QPR manager Harry Redknapp will be aware of the fact that Fulham are one of the inform teams in the Premier league over the last few months.
In fact, they have the second best record in the division after Manchester United in the 2013 calendar year. Hence, he will want more than 100% from his players in order to get past Fulham. Midfielder Giorgos Karagounis has been a crucial aspect of the Fulham team over the last few months. He has said that the players should not be overconfident going into the match because QPR are capable of springing up a surprise. Fulham come into the match on the back of a 1-0 win over Spurs in the previous match.
“We’ve played some great matches lately. We have managed to get a good run of form together, and as a result, we have rhythm – which is important. However, we can’t rest on that, because every game has its own story to tell and we will take nothing for granted. We know that they [QPR] need the points, they’re a team that are fighting for their Premier League survival. They really want, and need points,” said Karagounis. As a result of the recent good form, the club has climbed to the 10th position in the table. They are six points clear of the drop zone.
Tags: Greece
| by admin on April 25, 2013 | Comments Off