A late goal by Vangelis Pavlidis gave Greece a 2-1 victory over England, despite Jude Bellingham’s equaliser a few minutes earlier.
Pavlidis scored twice in Thursday’s UEFA Nations League B encounter, giving Greece their first ever win against England, while the Three Lions suffered their first defeat under interim manager Lee Carsley.
It was shortly after the start of the second half, in the 49th minute, that Greece took the lead with Pavlidis’ shot into the bottom right corner.
England faced problems defensively and saw the visitors scoring two more goals which were ruled out, the second of them after a VAR check.
However, Three Lions managed to find an equaliser with Jude Bellingham scoring with a shot on the edge of the box in the 88th minute.
However, the visitors had the last word when Pavlidis scored from eight yards away in the fourth minute of added time to add a second goal for his team and for himself, sending the travelling fans wild with celebrations and securing the three points for the away team.
Lee Carsley made four changes to the England team that beat Finland on September 10 with Levi Colwill replacing injured Ezri Konsa, Angel Gomes on the bench and Harry Kane and Jack Grealish not fit to play. They were replaced be Cole Palmer, Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham, who started in a formation without a clear striker.
“It’s something that we experimented with and it’s disappointing that it didn’t come off,” Lee Carsley said to ITV after the match.
“I think it was unrealistic to expect too much.”
Greece manager Ivan Jovanovich made four changes to the team who beat Ireland on September 10. Liverpool leftback Kostas Tsimikas was replaced by former Norwich player Dimitris Giannoulis, Andreas Bouchalakis was replaced by Dimitris Kourbelis, Giorgos Masouras started instead of Anastasios Chatzigiovannis and Benfica striker Vangelis Pavlidis replaced injured Fotis Ioannidis.
Greece are now top of the group with three wins in three matches, while England’s home defeat keeps them second.
The Greek players celebrated alongside the travelling fans and dedicated their win to former teammate George Baldock who was found dead in his home in Athens on Wednesday night.
Before kickoff, there was a minute’s silence in the memory of Panathinaikos and Greek international George Baldock who lost his life on Wednesday.
England will now travel to Finland to play the Scandinavian side on Sunday 13 October while Greece will host Ireland on the same day.
Balsam Maki
James Woodham
Dharmi Dave