By It was an emotional night for Greece at Wembley Stadium on Thursday as the country’s football team paid tribute to teammate George Baldock, who was recently found dead in a swimming pool at his home in Athens.
Greece recorded the first win over England in the national team’s history, as Vangelis Pavlidis’ last-minute strike secured a famous 2-1 victory.
Pavlidis gave Greece the lead early in the second half and it looked as though the team would hold on until full time against a toothless England side.
However, Jude Bellingham looked to have saved England’s blushes and salvaged at least a draw with a goal just three minutes from the end, only for Pavlidis to pop up in the 94th minute to fire home the winner.
Before the game, the Greece players had their team photo taken with Baldock’s No. 2 shirt, which they also raised into the air after Pavlidis’ first goal.
At full time, the players again held up his shirt in front of the traveling Greek supporters to chants of: “Baldock, Baldock.”
Pavlidis also dedicated his opening goal to the former Sheffield United and Panathinaikos player, holding his black armband aloft.
“Georgey, this is for you!” defender Lazaros Rota shouted down the camera at the end of the match.
Baldock qualified to represent Greece through a paternal grandmother and played for the national team 12 times during his career.
“It was a really special game for us because of George and of course we gave everything for him and for his family,” Pavlidis told broadcaster ITV after the match. “Great win but (what is) more important are the emotions and that we are people and that our special night is because of him.”
Pavlidis said Baldock had been in the players’ thoughts “a lot” in the 24 hours before the game.
“From yesterday when we heard that happened … it’s been a really difficult moment for us, because George was part of the team and he was a special guy,” he said. “We had a lot of time together with everybody and we just said that we have to play for him.
“It doesn’t matter the score today, we want to play for him and we give everything for him.”
Baldock started his career at MK Dons and went on to play for Oxford United and Northampton Town, among other clubs, before starring for Sheffield United in the Premier League.
He had signed for Greek club Panathinaikos earlier this year on a three-year contract.
Baldock’s family said the defender’s cause of death was drowning, telling the Associated Press: “We can confirm that a post-mortem examination has found that George tragically drowned whilst swimming in the pool at his home in Glyfada, Athens.”
