STELIOS Giannakopoulos says no other international fixture in Europe can match the rivalry that will provide the backdrop for today's Greece-Turkey showdown in Athens.

Any sporting contest between the Aegean neighbours is billed as a battle for national pride, but the timing of this latest head-to-head - crucial to both teams' prospects of qualifying for Euro 2008 - is expected to be more fiercely contested than ever.

This is the weekend the Greeks celebrate their independence from the Ottoman Empire, so the Wanderers midfielder expects the pressure-cooker atmosphere inside the Georgios Karaiskakis stadium to hit new heights.

"This is not only football for us," Stelios said. "It's a big event, a massive event. It has been sold out for a long time.

"It's a very big coincidence that the day afterwards we celebrate the freedom from the Turks. That means that every Greek citizen wants us to win the game . . . and we will win."

While Idan Tal has warned England that they will be taking on an entire nation when they meet Israel in their Group E qualifier in Tel Aviv, Stelios claims that, for sheer intensity, the passions provoked by a Greece-Turkey clash surpasses anything England have ever experienced - even in their famous Battle of Britain clashes with Scotland.

"I think, yes," he said, making the comparison.

"This is a massive game for us and for them as well. When we travel to them it's exactly the same.

"They are very, very passionate and they want to beat us, just as much as we want to beat them."

Greece and Turkey are currently level at the top of Group C with nine points each from their first three fixtures, neither having conceded a goal.

Well-matched, they traded scoreless draws in their ill-fated qualifying campaigns for last summer's World Cup, but the Turks have selection problems and Stelios and his team-mates - the current European Champions after their shock triumph in Portugal in 2004 - are in confident mood.

"We're doing brilliantly," the Reebok wide man told Wanderers TV. "We have had a great start with three wins in three.

"It is a coincidence that we played each other in the previous qualifying campaign when both games finished 0-0.

"In the away game I hit the post, like I have twice for Bolton recently.

"I hope that this time I will be more lucky."