Panathinaikos were losing 2-0 but Messaris tied the score with two reverse headers and he received great cheering.

His dribbling skills, his ball control together with his versatile mind and hard work quickly propelled him up the ranks in Greek football.

Then he returned to South Africa where he concluded his studies and following this he came back to Greece where he became an executive manager at the Doxiadis enterprises.

It is said that the reason why he left Panathinaikos rests on the unbearable pressure Apostolos Nikolaidis was putting on him in order to persuade him to commit himself to football and forget about his studies.

Kitroef claims that the key factor of Messaris leaving pertains to the suspicion that executives of Panathinaikos had intervened to be rejected in university admission test in order to keep playing football.