Giorgos Giakoumakis was so close to a dream Atlanta United debut when he had a 'winning goal' disallowed.
The former Celtic striker was finally able to get his MLS career up and running after a frustrating wait for visa clearance and he was given a rapturous welcome by the home fans at the Mercedes Benz Arena when he came on early in the second half against Toronto.
The Canadian side had taken the lead and Mattheus Rossetto equalised before the Parkhead favourite was introduced and it was so close to being the perfect start. Giakoumkis followed up to bury a right foot shot into the net after Juan Sanchez's header was blocked by the flag went up for an offside on Sanchez
READ MORE: Atlanta United in Celtic nod over Giakoumakis visa green light as he receives bizarre initiation
The Greek star was gutted when he quickly realised the goal was ruled out and overall he wasn't happy with his first appearamnce. He told reporters: “I demand a lot of myself. Even if I score a hat trick sometimes I will not be happy. Sometimes I’m too egoist. I know it’s not good but this is me.
Boss Gonzalo Pineda said: "Once Giakoumakis is fully incorporated into our system, and he gels with the others, we are going to have a very interesting final third product. I think it is very early to judge him, he has had one training session with the team. He had a flight on Thursday night.
"So I was actually worried that I was giving him more minutes than I expected for him. I know he is fit but the flight, the mental preparation.
"It worried me a little bit. But you can see that he is fully committed to running in the box, having second movements, counter-pressing, his energy attracts some action. His pressing is imposing and once he starts to gel he is going to be ok."
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