David Hytner witnessed Greece making history on an emotional night at Wembley. Here’s his report. Thanks for reading this MBM.
As for the other game in Group B2 … FULL TIME: FINLAND 1-2 REPUBLIC OF IRELAND. “Heartbreak for the home side, as Ireland turned things around and won 2-1 against the Eagle Owls,” reports Kári Tulinius. “Liam Scales headed in a fine Robbie Brady free kick, and the latter was then the beneficiary of a cross from Festy Ebosele. Heimir Hallgrímsson seems to be getting his ideas across, as this was very reminiscent of his Iceland.”
Greece P3 W2 D0 L0 F7 A1 Pts9
England P3 W2 D0 L0 F5 A2 Pts6
Republic of Ireland P3 W1 D0 L2 F2 A5 Pts3
Finland P2 W0 D0 L3 F1 A7 Pts0
Greece’s two-goal hero Vangelis Pavlidis talks to ITV. “It was a really special game for us because of George … of course we gave everything for him … and for his family … a great win but more important is the emotions … we are people … a special night because of him … it is a really difficult moment for us because George was part of the team … a special guy … we had a lot of time together … we have to play for him … it doesn’t matter the score, we want to play for him and we give everything for him.”
Lee Carsley talks to ITV. “I think we were probably second best for a lot of tonight … it’s disappointing … you’re going to get setbacks … it’s important we respond well against Finland … we tried something different … overload the midfield … we’ve experimented with it and we’re disappointed it didn’t come off … it was unrealistic to expect too much … it’s a case of trying again … all of the goals came from mistakes … even at 1-1 we were quite fortunate at that point … when you’ve got someone of Harry Kane’s quality, it rules [the new system] out … in the future we’ve got to have that courage to try things … my remit is to do the three camps and nothing changes in that respect.”
“Georgie, for you!” Lazaros Rota turns to the camera and dedicates Greece’s victory to George Baldock. Quite a few of their side in floods of tears. It’s difficult to watch these young men grieve their friend, and yet the result they’ve achieved to celebrate his life also makes the scene so very heartwarming. Kisses of comfort and arms being thrown around each other in mutual support. A team in mourning.
John Stones, England’s captain for the evening, is asked by ITV whether the best team won. “I think so, yeah … on a personal note I’m absolutely gutted … first time with the armband and to have a result like this … it’s hard to put into words … obviously every emotion yesterday … we have to give credit to them … from the start they put us right under pressure … we found it difficult to come out from the back and play our normal football … break the lines … they were very compact … disappointed … we worked [on the new system] … it’s something we know as players … we’ve got to deliver … we didn’t create enough clear-cut chances … a lot of counter-attacks … a difficult night … a lot was riding on it for me personally … we saw it as a great opportunity to top the group … we’ve got to move forward.”
Greece are collectively overcome with emotion. Their two-goal hero Vangelis Pavlidis taps the badge, sends a kiss into the air, and points to the heavens, then his black armband. The substitute Dimitris Pelkas, barely holding back tears, holds up George Baldock’s white No2 Greece shirt. His team-mates grab a corner to make sure their dearly departed friend’s name is visible to all. This is for him, that much is extremely clear.
That’s no more than Greece deserve. What a performance under the most trying of circumstances. They were magnificent from the get-go until the very end of play. They’ve beaten England for the first time in their history. They’ve scored at Wembley for the first time in their history. They’ve had the ball in the England net on five separate occasions! They’ve secured the win their efforts thoroughly deserved, and in doing so, remembered their fallen team-mate George Baldock in the best way possible. The most bittersweet of glorious victories.
FULL TIME: England 1-2 Greece
Greece beat England for the very first time!
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90 min +6: England push forward, but Colwill bowls Pavlidis to the ground and the game is surely up. Then a very brief VAR check for Rota’s late clatter into the back of Madueke, but it’s not going to be a penalty.
90 min +5: On the touchline, Lee Carsley drops to his haunches. He knows the jig is surely up.
GOAL! England 1-2 Greece (Pavlidis 90+4)
Greece have surely snatched it! It’s Pavlidis again! Konstantelias and Pelkas drive into the box down the middle. Lewis and Colwill get in each other’s way, in the slapstick style. Both fall over as Pavlidis takes a touch to the right and slams low and hard through Pickford and into the bottom left!
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90 min +3: Pavlidis has also been booked, for a tug on Lewis moments earlier.
90 min +2: A pass infield from the Greece right. Pelkas hopes to meet it, just outside the England box, but Pickford comes charging out to blast clear. Pelkas keeps going and cleans out the keeper, earning a booking in the process.
90 min: Alexander-Arnold, out on the right, sends a long diagonal towards Madueke, who meets the dropping ball on the corner of the six-yard box but can only flap his shot into the side netting. Vlachodimos had it covered. There will be five additional minutes.
88 min: This scoreline seriously flatters England. And there’s still time for a winner!
GOAL! England 1-1 Greece (Bellingham 87)
Alexander-Arnold slips a pass down the inside-right channel for Watkins, who reaches the byline and pulls back diagonally. The ball makes it all the way back to Bellingham, on the left-hand edge of the D. He meets it with a low drive that’s palmed upwards by Vlachodimos and into the top right!
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86 min: That’s Tzolis’s last act of the evening. He’s replaced by Konstantelias, while the captain Bakasetas makes way for Vagiannidis.
NO GOAL. England 0-1 Greece
Pavlidis was off when Tzolis rolled across. England breathe again. Not for the first time this evening, either.
GOAL! England 0-2 Greece (Pavlidis 83)
A fine move by Greece, but England make it far too easy. Pickford bowls out. The ball’s intercepted by Giannoulis, who advances forward down the left flank. Giannoulis slips the ball to Tzolis on the overlap. Tzolis crosses low. Pavlidis is in the middle. He opens his body and slams home.
82 min: Koulierakis spins Watkins then goes down to purchase a cheap free kick. Watkins frowns in frustration. Greece pushing England’s buttons right now.
81 min: Bellingham wins a corner down the left. Stones flicks Alexander-Arnold’s delivery into a crowded six-yard box, but once again Greece clear their lines without too much fuss. England are beginning to spend a bit more time in the Greek box, even if Vlachodimos still hasn’t had too much to do. An improvement of sorts.
79 min: Watkins and Bellingham make a nuisance of themselves in the Greek six-yard box … but they can’t get a proper effort on goal, and eventually the flag pops up for a foul anyway.
78 min: This is better from Alexander-Arnold, at the other end of the park, as he gets back to nick the ball off Tzolis, who was preparing to tear clear on goal.
77 min: Rota’s poor pass back gifts England a corner. From the set piece, Alexander-Arnold looks to float a diagonal pass to … nobody in particular.
76 min: Madueke makes a couple of decent runs down the left. He can’t quite make space for a shot with the first; he wins a corner with the second. Alexander-Arnold’s delivery isn’t up to much … and Greece counter, three on two! Pelkas rolls a pass down the middle to release Tzolis, who is one on one with Pickford … but sends his wedge over the keeper wide left. Then the flag pings up correctly for offside. Greece make a proper mess of a big chance to put this game to bed.
74 min: Kourbelis, who has just gone into the book, is replaced by Mantalos.
72 min: A long punt down the England right. Bellingham has Watkins in the middle, but attempts an outrageous lob over the keeper from 30 yards. The ball always floats high and wide left. Before the game can restart, Solanke comes on for Foden.
70 min: Pelkas’s delivery from the left is no good whatsoever. England set about clearing their lines. Bellingham makes his way up the right and is unceremoniously upended by Kourbelis, who goes into the book.
69 min: Greece string together a few crisp passes, much to the annoyance of England, who still look a bit unsteady post-goal. Lewis is forced to concede a corner down the right. Bellingham half-clears. The ball’s returned into the mixer. Pickford flaps at it, and here comes another corner, this time from the left.
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67 min: Bakasetas goes over holding his foot. Time ticks on. Bellingham, not for the first time this evening, makes his views known in the full and frank style. The referee tells both players to stop the nonsense.
65 min: A double change for Greece: Masouras and Siopis make way for Pelkas and Zafeiris.
64 min: Palmer drives down the right and attacks Giannoulis with purpose … but the Greece left-back is up to the task, refusing to budge, forcing Palmer to turn tail, then stripping him of possession.
63 min: Vlachodimos goes down to get some treatment / take some sting out of the game. The keeper is back up on his feet quickly enough.
61 min: That would have been a hell of a well-worked goal, but Pavlidis was well off. England respond by replacing Gordon with Watkins, whose first touch is to stride down the inside-right and blaze a shot over the bar.
59 min: Greece have the ball in the England goal again. On the left touchline, Tzolis brings down a long pass in glorious style. Such a silky touch. He immediately shuttles the ball further along the flank towards Pavlidis. He romps into the box and cuts back for Masouras, who slots powerfully into the bottom right. But the flag goes up, correctly, for offside on Pavlidis.
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57 min: Madueke cuts in from the right and shoots, but his harmless effort is easily deflected away from danger. Wembley is murmuring.
56 min: Foden tees up Lewis on the edge of the D but Masouras arrives before a serious shot can be unleashed. “Forget David Beckham,” advises Chris Paraskevas. “Terry Butcher as the Pivot would be an improvement at this point.”
54 min: … Bakasetas drives a low, hard ball into the six-yard box from the left. Pickford scoops it off his line, but not in a totally convincing style. England are rocked back on their collective heels here.
53 min: England are rattled, and Rice clanks clumsily into Siopis, Palmer having given him a hospital pass. Rice goes into the book. The free kick, hit long from the right, is headed across the face of goal by Koulierakis and turned out for a corner. From which …
52 min: In the build-up to the goal, Saka went down. He can’t continue, and limps off gingerly. He’s replaced by Madueke, whose first act is to win corner down the right. The set piece comes to nothing.
51 min: Pavlidis immediately tugs at his black armband, before taking it off and hoisting it into the air. Such a bittersweet moment, and a beautiful dedication to George Baldock.
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GOAL! England 0-1 Greece (Pavlidis 49)
Koulierakis dives down the inside-left channel before laying off to Pavlidis, who dances into the box, past four England players. He opens his body and whips a low shot across Pickford and into the bottom right. What a dribble! What a goal! But from England’s point of view, what awful defending.
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49 min: Masouras chases a long ball down the right. He’s got Tzolis free in the middle, and a ball infield would put England in all sorts of bother, but Colwill ensures there’s no way through. But it’s all in vain, because …
47 min: Saka makes good down the right and flicks into the box for Alexander-Arnold, who attempts to return the ball with a cheeky back-flick. It doesn’t quite come off, but England come again, through Bellingham down the left now. He dribbles into the box but can’t get a shot away. Greece hold their shape and clear their lines.
Greece get the second half underway. No changes. Lee Carsley sticking with his plan. For now.
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Half-time postbag. “No Beckham to bail England out this time. If only Charisteas was still kicking around, this would be a lock for Lord Byron’s boys” – Chris Paraskevas
“I get it, if done quickly with attacking intention, going short on a corner instead of lofting it into the mixer can make sense. But on the last England corner they went short, and passed it around without taking a shot or passing it into the centre. Why? What a waste” – Mary Waltz
“Billy Ditchburn’s biblical fire-and-brimstone pun has burned a ditch in my lawn!” – Peter Oh
HALF TIME: England 0-0 Greece
England’s all-the-talents attacking plan hasn’t worked. Not yet. Greece will be very happy with that. Levi Colwill should be very pleased with his acrobatic goal-line clearance, too, without which Tasos Bakasetas would have scored Greece’s first-ever goal at Wembley. Some big decisions for Lee Carsley to make at the break.
45 min: Saka is booked for cynically hauling back an in-flight Masouras.
44 min: … Alexander-Arnold’s delivery is headed half-clear by Mavropanos, who has been excellent so far. Bakasetas and a not particularly happy Bellingham then collide as the ball pings out for another corner. Nothing comes of that one.
43 min: Gordon dances down the left and forces Siopis to toe-poke behind for a corner. From which …
42 min: Greece are doing a fine job of keeping England at arm’s length. Wembley is pretty quiet as a result … bar the 4,000 Greek fans enjoying themselves right now.
40 min: Alexander-Arnold doesn’t shoot. Instead he loops towards Stones and Colwill at the far stick. Mavropanos hooks clear, then Colwill skittles Vlachodimos to the floor, and there goes that pressure.
39 min: England over-elaborate at the corner. But then Kourbelis clumsily clips Foden, just to the right of the Greek D, and it’s a free kick in a dangerous position. Palmer took one from here earlier; this one might go to Alexander-Arnold.
37 min: Saka jinks in from the right and takes a shot. He might as well, there aren’t any options. His shot is blocked, but nearly falls to Bellingham in the box. Just a corner.
Updated
36 min: Stones slips Alexander-Arnold into space down the right. A cross is sent in towards … nobody. A fair chance we’ll see Ollie Watkins and Dominic Solanke sometime in the second half.
34 min: Greece knock it around the back awhile. The visitors look pretty comfortable at the moment. They’ve certainly created the better chances.
32 min: Alexander-Arnold takes a deflected ball flush in the face, causing much amusement all around Wembley. It’s not pantomime season quite yet, folks.
31 min: Kourbelis is fine to continue, and play restarts. Alexander-Arnold, quarterbacking to the right of the centre circle, floats a delicious diagonal down the middle for Gordon, who beats the out-rushing keeper to the ball, but can only dink a header over the bar. What an assist that would have been. It’d have been a neat finish too, had Gordon managed to get just a little less on his header.
29 min: That corner is sent in long from the left by Alexander-Arnold. Stones can’t win a header, and play is then stopped when Kourbelis takes a whack upside the noggin.
28 min: Saka has been fairly quiet so far. Palmer very nearly releases him into the box with a forensic pass down the inside-right channel, but Greece slam the door shut. England switch the play and Gordon wins a corner out on the left.
27 min: “In the other match in this group, Joel Pohjanpalo, of hipster’s choice Venezia FC, has just put Finland 1-0 up,” reports Kári Tulinius. “The assist came from Nathan Collins, who gifted the chance to his opponent. A couple of minutes later, it looked Ireland had equalised from a well-worked set piece, but Nathan Collins was offside for his assist to Evan Ferguson. Not a good spell for the Brentford stalwart.”
25 min: Bakasetas is seeing a lot of the ball. He takes a blast from the best part of 30 yards. It’s easily blocked, but that’s a measure of the Greece captain’s confidence right now.
24 min: Gordon dribbles hard down the left, but is forced to turn tail. Vlachodimos hasn’t had that much to do yet.
22 min: Bellingham advances down the left this time, and pulls back from the byline for Palmer. He leans back and blasts over from ten yards. You’ll likely have expected him to score. Not sure how this is still 0-0.
21 min: Greece go close again! Tzolis barrels down the inside-left and slips Giannoulis in on the overlap. Giannoulis cuts back for Bakasetas, whose shot towards the bottom left is blocked by Stones. Pickford again didn’t look convincing.
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19 min: Masouras embarks on another dribble down the right. For a second, England look a little light at the back, but Foden comes across to put a stop to the Greek winger’s gallop. “As a Everton fan and a big fan of Pickford I can attest to these facts,” begins Mary Waltz. “He is an incredible goaltender but periodically he will look like a pub league amateur who had too many pints before the match. These howlers can happen out of the blue at any time or not at all. Genius has its limitations.”
17 min: Space for Bellingham down the right. He twists Koulierakis this way and that, but has nobody in the middle to aim a cross at, so decides to shoot from a tight angle instead. Full marks for ambition.
15 min: Greece will wonder how they’ve not broken their Wembley duck. That was an outrageously good clearance by Colwill. Pickford owes him a pint. Of ouzo.
13 min: Rice extends a leg and catches Kourbelis, 35 yards from the England goal. Bakasetas launches the free kick towards nobody in particular, and Pickford claims this time. The England keeper then has the brass neck to wave his arms around in the authoritative orchestra-conducting style. Given what’s just gone before, that’s ten out of ten for chutzpah.
11 min: .. and from that corner, Greece do get the ball in the net this time. Mavropanos heads home from close range with Pickford flapping. But the Greek defender was clearly offside. Pickford gets away with another huge gaffe.
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10 min: Pavlidis chases a long ball down the middle. He doesn’t reach it, Pickford coming out of his box to intercept. But the keeper then clanks a pass straight to Bakasetas, who loops over the stranded keeper and towards the unguarded net. The ball’s heading in, but Colwill hooks it off the line sensationally! How did he keep that out? Just a corner.
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8 min: … and after some interminable faff, Palmer aims for the top-right corner but the ball clears the bar. Vlachodimos had it covered.
6 min: Vlachodimos kicks upfield. Rice returns it straight back. It nearly finds Foden on the edge of the Greece box. Not quite. But Greece soon ship possession again, Bellingham attempting to advance down the inside-right channel. Koulierakis, whose clearance Bellingham had intercepted, lunges and catches the England man. Into the book he goes. He’ll miss Greece’s next game. Free kick to England, just to the right of the D.
4 min: Greece deal with Saka’s corner easily enough, then counter … and nearly score! Kourbelis steals the ball off a snoozing Bellingham and the visitors storm upfield. Pavlidis drifts in from the left and curls powerfully towards the top right. Pickford can’t reach the shot at full stretch, but the ball sails past the post. Just. So close to Greece’s first-ever goal at Wembley!
3 min: Palmer has a fresh-air swipe , 25 yards out. Bellingham tries again. His attempt is much better, a power-curler aimed for the top right. Vlachodimos turns around the post to concede the first corner of the game.
Updated
2 min: England continue to stroke it around. One attempted dribble down the right by Masouras apart, Greece haven’t had a touch yet.
England get the match underway. They start with a few gentle passes across the back.
Before kick-off, a moment of silence in memory of George Baldock. Just before, a grim-faced Manolis Siopis held up his white Greece No2 shirt by way of tribute.
Thanked him every time we saw him, but feel we haven’t thanked him enough. George bought Harvey a defib,which helped him continue to play football and the things he enjoys. He gave us peace of mind as parents on the side line! ❤️ #sheffieldunited #GeorgeBaldock Our Starman 🌟💔 pic.twitter.com/F66FldGAEv
— 💕🍸Marie ❤️⚽️⚔️ (@Marie_LadyBlade) October 10, 2024
The teams are out! England wear white, Greece second-choice blue. Pennants are to be swapped, coins tossed, fists bumped, but in the meantime, here’s more on our “entirely predictable shoehorning of that Beckham game, the replay of which is criminally overplayed”, courtesy of Chris Paraskevas. “Let’s just clarify something now and forever: it was never a free kick in a million years and Antonis Nikopolidis was never a proper goalkeeper in a million years. I think you’ll find highlights from a 0-0 draw between these two sides in 1983 go a more accurate indication of the Three Lions’ future.”
Pre-match postbag o’ optimism. “If Bazball has revolutionised England cricket with its attacking mindset - 145 consecutive overs without facing a maiden today in that 823/7 - this England line-up feels like it could be the birth of Cazball: stuffed with attack-minded talent, including the full backs, a holding midfielder who is now a marauding no8 and a centre back that may soon be playing CDM for the champions. Feels like a large and perhaps conscious step change from Gareth’s famous caution” – Graham Porter
“No recognised striker maybe, but five superb finishers. We may not have Kane, but we look very very CapAbel!” – Billy Ditchburn (brazenly parking his tanks on our old friend Peter Oh’s pun-tastic lawn)
… and to bring the discourse back to ground level …
“I’m not sure I agree with you about Beckham’s game not being a reliable foreshadowing of England’s 2002 World Cup credentials. If memory serves, across the game England were atrocious and in the cold light of day no match for genuine contenders” – Tom Hopkins (who has a point to be fair)
England aren’t the only ones without their main striker this evening. Fotis Ioannidis of Panathinaikos limped off against Olympiakos last weekend and misses out for Greece; he’d already bagged three goals in the first two matches of this Nations League campaign. Kostas Tsimikas of Liverpool is also out injured. Odysseas Vlachodimos of Newcastle, West Ham’s Dinos Mavropanos and Cardiff’s Manolis Siopis all start.
Lee Carsley speaks to ITV. “It’s given us a chance to try something … to be creative with the system and hopefully the way we play … we’ve got to show Greece the respect they deserve … it’s important we match them physically … we have a lot of flexibility … you may see a lot of changes tonight … we must make sure we stretch the opposition … we’re looking forward to the game … a chance to hopefully be exciting … we’ve got some really creative players in wide areas and at full-back … a lot of different opportunities … we’re expecting a really tough game tonight.”
The last time England played Greece, at Old Trafford in a 2006 friendly, the visitors were the reigning European champions and the hosts scored four goals in the first half. John Terry, Frank Lampard and Peter Crouch (2) did the business that evening, launching the Steve McClaren era in spectacular style. The game ended 4-0 and the Guardian’s Kevin McCarra observed that the new boss “might wish that his career as England manager could end on the night it began”, a wry observation that many others would soon vehemently wish had come to pass. So let’s not place too much importance on how Lee Carsley’s all-out attacking plan pans out tonight: as harbingers go, this fixture has proved itself a bum steer in the past.
The one before that? A 2-2 draw in 2001, the David Beckham game, the one that sent England to the 2002 World Cup with belief that Sven-Göran Eriksson could be the man to put an end to those 36 years of hurt. A reliable foreshadowing it most certainly was not.
But what the past also tells us is that England are favourites to win tonight. They’ve played Greece on nine previous occasions, winning seven and drawing the other two, racking up a cumulative scoreline of 23-3. More up-to-date data is on England’s side as well: the Three Lions are the fourth-best side in the world according to Fifa’s rankings, while Greece are 48th. But nothing’s ever cut and dried, and Ivan Jovanović’s men have a pretty much identical record to England in League B2 so far – an away win in Dublin and a home victory over Finland – so a shock victory is not out of the question.
Greece P2 W2 D0 L0 F5 A0 Pts6
England P2 W2 D0 L0 F4 A0 Pts6
Republic of Ireland P2 W0 D0 L2 F0 A4 Pts0
Finland P2 W0 D0 L2 F0 A5 Pts0
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There’s no Harry Kane for England tonight … and no recognised striker in Lee Carsley’s starting XI. No matter: Cole Palmer, Bukayo Saka, Anthony Gordon, Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham are all crowbarred in, and they’re not exactly a bad collection of back-up attacking talent. Ollie Watkins and Dominic Solanke wait on the bench, just in case.
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The teams
England: Pickford, Alexander-Arnold, Stones, Colwill, Lewis, Rice, Palmer, Foden, Saka, Bellingham, Gordon.
Subs: Pope, Henderson, Walker, Livramento, Guehi, Jones. Gallagher, Gomes, Madueke, Watkins, Solanke.
Greece: Vlachodimos, Rota, Mavropanos, Koulierakis, Giannoulis, Kourbelis, Siopis, Masouras, Bakasetas, Tzolis, Pavlidis.
Subs: Tzolakis, Mandas, Vagiannidis, Retsos, Douvikas, Pelkas, Chatzigiovanis, Hatzidiakos, Konstantelias, Zafeiris, Mantalos.
Referee: Andrea Colombo (Italy).
Your #ThreeLions to take on Greece! ✨ pic.twitter.com/y0VWiRPoRC
— England (@England) October 10, 2024
#startingxi pic.twitter.com/MepCAxdHTX
— Ethniki Omada (@EthnikiOmada) October 10, 2024
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Preamble
Tonight’s Nations League match between England and Greece will be played in the most tragic circumstances after the sudden death of George Baldock. The Greek squad are collectively “devastated” by the news of their team-mate’s passing, with the Hellenic Football Federation having reportedly asked for a postponement, but Uefa were said to have denied the request, citing a busy calendar.
Baldock had moved to Panathinaikos in the summer, having previously represented MK Dons, Oxford United and Sheffield United with distinction. Beloved by fans of all his clubs, he was an equally popular member of the Greek squad, for which the Buckingham-born right-back qualified through his maternal grandmother, and for whom he won 12 caps. The Greece players, who “barely slept” last night upon finding out the tragic news, have issued a joint statement.
It is impossible to believe that our dear friend and team-mate, George, is no longer with us. Our pain is indescribable.
Tonight, we will try to reach the strength of his soul, which is a bright example for us all. Our thoughts are with his family. We will never forget you friend.
Greece’s players, along with those of England, will wear black armbands and hold a period of silence before tonight’s game, which kicks off at 7.45pm BST. Go well, George.
