Greece defender Giourkas Seitaridis gave Atletico Madrid an excellent chance of reaching the UEFA Cup with a stunning second half strike against the Romanian side Gloria Bistrita.

The Romanians won the first leg of their Intertoto Cup third round 2-1 but the goal from Seitaridis makes the experienced Spanish side the favourite to go through when they meet again next week in Madrid.

Atletico produced the better football on the evening but it was the Romanians who took their chances, going into the lead after just seven minutes through Dorel Zaharia.

After Miguel Ferrer  came within a whisker of heading an equalizer five minutes later, it was Gloria who struck again after 40 minutes, this time through Cosmin Tilinca.

Atletico dominated the second half but could only pull one goal back when Seitaridis firing in off the underside of the crossbar from over 30 metres.

"The truth is that I'm not exactly sure if the ball fully passed the line," said Seitaridis after the game.

"In the second-leg round we will play a lot better because we know that we have to score. Nevertheless, we are going to qualify at Vincent Calderon," he added

Greece's representative in the Intertoto Cup, OFI Crete, play their first leg against Tobol in Kazakhstan on Sunday.