It certainly will not be an easy task against the Spanish, who are themselves eyeing the quarter-finals following their 1-0 win over Russia on Saturday.

But Nikolaidis, who plays his club football in Spain with Atletico Madrid, insists Greece cannot afford to be intimidated by household names such as Raul, Fernando Morientes and Vicente.

He said: “They do not frighten us, they may be better players but names on shirts don’t win matches.

“They also have a better team but they will have to prove that on the pitch.”

Nikolaidis’ upbeat approach epitomises the hard-working and positive attitude instilled in the Greece squad by coach Otto Rehhagel.

And midfielder Angelos Basinas, the Panathinaikos captain, admitted Greece will try to nullify Spain’s flair players, saying: “The secret of our success is that we stifle our opponents’ game.”

Nikolaidis, 30, appeared as a second-half substitute against Portugal having struggled with a calf injury in recent weeks.

And he is hoping to feature against Spain and help Greece try to emulate the feat of Denmark in 1992 when they want on to win the tournament despite being one the the unfancied teams.

He said: “The Danes are a good example, they were not the best team then but they did some spectacular things and I don’t think they were better than we are now.

“I am not surprised by our performance, we have been together for two years and know each other’s game very well.”

But midfielder Vassilios Tsiartas has warned against getting carried away by the win over Portugal.

“It is great that the world is talking about us now, but that does not mean they will be talking about us after the Spain game. We have to stay focused on the task at hand,” he said.

There is little chance of Rehhagel allowing his side to become over-confident as the former Werder Bremen and Bayern Munich coach has brought discipline into the Greece squad.

Rehhagel has transformed a once brittle defence into a formidable backline and the fact that the goal Portugal scored on Saturday in the dying seconds was the first Greece had conceded in almost seven games, speaks volumes.

They won the qualifying group ahead of Spain by scoring only eight in eight matches.

Rehhagel said: “We have gained the respect of European coaches and we are not here just to take part, we want to show that qualifying was not a fluke.

“We started well but now must keep it going and show we are a good side.”

As a footballing nation, they are already in uncharted waters.

While many of their players may have acquired Champions League experienced throughout Europe, none of them have previously played in a major international tournament.

Greece have reached a finals only twice before. They didn’t manage a win in the 1980 European Championships and failed to score in the 1994 World Cup and so a place in the last eight seemed beyond their wildest dreams – until now.