Giorgos Giakoumakis crucial Celtic goals have Greek fans glued to title race after overcoming AEK nightmare

Tassos Venetis knew from the start Celtic’s Giorgos Giakoumakis was going to muscle his way to the very top.

He is just delighted things are working out for him in the Hoops after he had his own Greek tragedy at AEK Athens.

Giakoumakis scored a brace on Monday to dump Dundee United out of the Scottish Cup and to take his impressive run since the end of January to seven goals and nine in total for the Premiership leaders.

That impressive run has been rewarded with an international recall by new Greek boss Gus Poyet for this month’s games in Romania and Montenegro.

Venetis said: “I am delighted to see Giakoumakis do so well at Celtic. A lot of what he has been doing has been all over the sports channels and on the internet in Greece.

“It is like Giakoumakis is back again. It is great to see.

“Giakoumakis is perfectly suited for Scottish football because he is a good striker. He is also big, strong and physical.

“He has scored a lot of goals for Celtic since he got over his injuries and I believe he will be a very big player for them.

“He is a goalscorer and a matchwinner and he can be the sort of player that helps a club like Celtic win titles and trophies.

“I really believe in this boy that he can make the difference. He is back in the Greek national team as well so that is a mark of how well he is doing.”

Venetis played against Giakoumakis as one of Greece’s top young talents although his rapid rise was curtailed when his dream move to AEK Athens in 2017 turned into a nightmare.

The former Dundee United and Ross County player believes Giakoumakis deserves enormous credit for the way he has got his career back on track, first with VVV-Venlo in Holland and now kicking on again under Ange Postecoglou at Celtic.

Veneti