Greece star reveals how team reacted to George Baldock’s shock death and claims players did NOT want to play England game after devastating news

Midfielder Dimitrios Pelkas said Greece did not want to play their Nations League game with England following the death of George Baldock but forced themselves to win in his honour.

Former Sheffield United defender Baldock died at the age of 31 after drowning in his swimming pool in Athens earlier in the week.

There was an outpouring of support from his former clubs, colleagues and opposition who paid tribute to the star in the wake of his tragic passing.

Baldock’s absence made Thursday’s Wembley encounter an extremely emotional affair and almost didn’t happen after the Greece team opted against wanting to play the match. 

Baldock won 12 caps for Greece, after being eligible to represent them through his grandmother and was last involved in their squad for the Euro 2024 play-off defeat to Georgia.

Greece players held up a shirt with Baldock’s name and number printed on it in his memory

Midfielder Dimitrios Pelkas (pictured) revealed the Greece team did not want to play the match

Greece paid tribute to their team-mate in the best possible way as they beat England for the first time with a stunning 2-1 victory at Wembley, with Evangelos Pavlidis scoring a winner in stoppage-time.

Pelkas, who came off the bench, said his side did not want to play but could not postpone the game because there was no room in the calendar to rearrange.

‘It is like this, rules are rules, UEFA don’t have another opportunity to play this game so we played today [Thursday],’ he said. ‘We give this win to him.

‘When these things happen in life, football is the second part. The most important thing is that our friend George passed away.

‘We will never forget him, I was sure today that he would be with us from upstairs and he would celebrate with us and force us to take this victory.

England were the shock losers after conceding a Greece winner deep into stoppage time

Baldock had only joined Panathinaikos in the summer after moving from Sheffield United

Baldock has previously represented Greece in Euro 2024 qualifying matches last year

‘I don’t want to speak about football, yesterday [Wednesday] was very hard for all of us, we couldn’t speak, we couldn’t laugh, we couldn’t eat in the hotel.

‘It was a really hard day. I want to send my condolences to his family, for them it is the most difficult period.

‘It was really difficult, it was one of us, he was an excellent guy, it is like he was with us from a very young age.’

UEFA has been contacted for comment by the PA news agency.