Celtic marksman Samaras is amazed at the scandal surrounding the Rangers pair Barry Ferguson and Allan McGregor. Following last Saturday's defeat by Holland in Amsterdam they went on an eight hour drinking binge at the team hotel. They were dropped from the team for Wednesday's World Cup qualifier against Iceland at Hampden and then caused further upset by behaving like naughty schoolboys whilst sitting on the bench. The repercussions were swift and the news on Friday morning was that neither player would ever be considered for selection for the national side ever again. 
Even more dramatic was the news from Ibrox that both had been sent home by Rangers. Further to that Ferguson would be stripped of his club captaincy and both were suspended for two weeks and fined two weeks wages.
Greek hero Samaras, who came off the bench to score his country's penalty winner against Israel, has never witnessed anything like it "I really don't know what happened with the players here in Scotland but I've been four years in the national team and we've never had these kinds of problems," he said. "Our German coach Otto Rehhagel is really disciplined, we are not allowed out of the hotel and alcohol is not allowed."
"It depends on the country and the coach and the players, and what they are thinking about." he added. "but the Greece players accept that and it benefits us. We are a national team and we must really focus on our games and be proud for our country. All Greece, or Scotland or Holland are watching their national team and so we must be 100 per cent professional."
Artur Boruc will have been the happiest man in Glasgow after reading the latest headlines. In one fell swoop the Holy Goalie's recent troubles are yesterday's news as the media feeding frenzy moves on to Barry and his buddy but Georgios had no doubts at all that the big keeper would have handled the pressure anyway. "Artur is a world-class goalkeeper," he said. "I really don't care about his lifestyle or what he does outside the club, that's his life. He is looking well, fit, focused and ready for a clean sheet tomorrow. When you are a goalkeeper it is easy to be a hero and easy to make a tragic mistake but I don't think it will affect him. Artur can handle the situation. He has the heart and mind to play the last nine games to win the title."