The 28-year-old central defen-der, who can't hold down a regular first team place at Italian first division club Roma, struck in injury time of the first period of extra time on Thursday to send the Greeks into their first ever final.

Otto Rehhagel's men, 150-1 outsiders at the start of the tournament, will meet hosts Portugal in Sunday's final, the team they defeated in their first group match.

Dellas could be forgiven for basking in his own glory after scoring his first ever goal for his country, but modestly turned the spotlight on the team as a whole for shutting out a Czech side that had scored 10 goals in four matches.

He acknowledged that he had a little help from above too.

"In the end, God gave us this victory... As I went to take my position during the corner, I looked at the clock. It showed 14 minutes and 36 seconds.

"And I told myself let it happen now. And it went OK. I believe somebody listened to me, and the goal went in," said Dellas.

"I believe we played very intelligently in freezing out the Czech Republic," he said.

"The start of the match was hard as neither team wanted to lose this game and we tried our hardest not to concede a goal.

"We managed to pull off a win in extra-time. We believed in ourselves from the beginning and we deserved this result.

"Tonight belongs to everyone here and in Greece who watched the match."

Dellas insisted Portugal would be a tougher nut to crack than when Greece beat them 2-1 in the competion's opening match, but refused to rule out another upset for the host nation.

"Portugal are very strong. We beat them in the opening match but a lot has changed since then and the final will be competely different. They're stronger now, but they'll find out that we are too," he said.

Dellas was a member of the Greece side that lost the European under-21 championship final to Spain in May 1998, but it took him three years to make his senior international debut in a friendly against Croatia in April 2001.

He was outstanding in the seven Euro 2004 qualifying matches he played in, patrolling a defence that kept five clean sheets.

Dellas spent time with Greek first division sides Aris Salonika and AEK Athens, either side of a unhappy spell at English first division side Sheffield United in 1997.

He found it difficult adjusting to the climate in northern England and made only 27 league appearances in two years.

After a short stay with Italian first division club Perugia during the 2001/02 season, Dellas joined their Serie A rivals Roma.

However, he has failed to establish himself in the starting line-up and was limited to just 14 first team appearances last season.