A 94th-minute winner by Vangelis Pavlidis gave Greece a 2-1 victory on Thursday against England in a Nations League clash overshadowed by the death of Greek player George Baldock on the eve of the game, while Italy were held to a draw by Belgium.
Greek striker Pavlidis netted a brace, either side of a late Jude Bellingham goal, to send Greece top of Group B2.
Greece’s first-ever victory against England came in an emotionally-charged evening at Wembley, which started with a minute’s silence prior to kick-off for Baldock, an English-born Greece international who drowned in his swimming pool in Athens on Wednesday.
“It was a really special day for us because of George. We are people and it’s a special night because of him,” Pavlidis told ITV.
“A difficult moment for us because George was part of the team. Special guy. We have to play for him and it doesn’t matter the score today. We gave everything for him.”
The Greeks took a deserved lead in the 49th minute when Pavlidis danced through flimsy defending in the England box, before driving the ball past Jordan Pickford.
The visitors had three disallowed goals in the match — the last of which came just minutes before Real Madrid’s Bellingham hammered in an 87th-minute equaliser for England.
However, Greece were not to be denied a third win in three Nations League matches as England failed to clear the danger in their area and Pavlidis took full advantage and drilled home a late winner.
In Group A2, Italy and Belgium played out an eventful 2-2 draw in Rome.
The Italians raced into the lead inside 60 seconds when Andrea Cambiaso got his first international goal by bundling home from close range.
Mateo Retegui doubled the hosts’ lead on 24 minutes, sweeping home with his left foot after a spilled save.
Pellegrini sees red
Italy looked comfortable and were dominating the encounter until they suffered a double blow inside the final 10 minutes of the first half.
Lorenzo Pellegrini initially picked up a yellow card for his late lunge on Arthur Theate in the 38th minute but, after a VAR review, the Italy playmaker was instead shown a straight red.
Belgium then duly halved the deficit from the resulting free-kick, with Maxim De Cuyper finishing emphatically from 25 yards following a clever set-piece move.
Arsenal forward Leandro Trossard completed the Belgian comeback on 61 minutes.
A deep corner was nodded back across goal and Trossard ghosted past the static defence to prod the ball past Gianluigi Donnarumma from close range.
“There are episodes that can change a game, like their goal immediately after we went down to ten men,” said Italy coach Luciano Spalletti.
“A result doesn’t always depend on the football you play and your tactics. Certainly, we could have played better in the second half after a very good first half.”
Italy remain top of their group with France sitting second after they beat Israel 4-1 in Budapest.
Eduardo Camavinga gave France a seventh-minute lead when the goalkeeper fumbled his tame effort, allowing the ball to bounce over the line.
Omri Gandelman levelled on 24 minutes, before Christopher Nkunku restored France’s advantage four minutes later with a sharp finish.
As the clock wound down, the visitors added two more goals to their tally via Matteo Guendouzi and Bradley Barcola.
Erling Haaland scored a brace as Norway eased past Slovenia 3-0 in Oslo to sit top of Group B3, three points ahead of Austria who beat Kazakhstan 4-0.
Republic of Ireland came from behind in Helsinki to beat Finland 2-1, they sit third in Group B2 behind England.
On Friday, Germany visit Bosnia and Herzegovina and Hungary host the Netherlands in Group A3, while Iceland take on Wales in Group B4.
