George Baldock death on the mind of Greece squad who are finding it 'hard to control emotions'
Greece host Ireland in the Nations League on Sunday night, hoping to follow up their brilliant win over England on Thursday
Benfica striker Vangelis Pavlidis admits the Greece squad is still numb at the tragic loss of their former team-mate George Baldock.
But they want to honour his memory with another win when they face Ireland tonight, having already stunned England on Thursday.
Greece didn’t want that Wembley game to go ahead as news of Baldock’s death had only reached them the day before.
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But the Nations League clash went ahead and Pavlidis opened the scoring before going on to score the late winner in a shock victory.
In Athens tonight, he said: “It was very difficult for everyone, not only the team but for everyone involved. But the players are professional and we knew we had to play the game - and play it for George.
“Our team was happy with the result, but it’s difficult to explain the emotions as we weren’t sure ourselves what we were feeling.
“In the past, Greece have followed up a good result with a not very good results. We have to make sure there is continuity going from one game into another.”
New Greece boss Ivan Jovanovic has guided his team to top spot in this Nations League campaign after winning all three of his matches in charge.
But the Serb admits it has been a challenging week with Baldock in everyone’s thinking.
“It was difficult,” he said. “They players are young. It’s hard for me to control my own feelings, never mind helping the players as well.
“Perhaps the match against England helped, not only the fixture but the way it was going and that they realised they had a chance of doing something historic for George. That helped them through the game with their feelings.”
Tonight, Greece are looking to record their fourth win over Ireland since June 2023 having won home and away in the Euro 2024 qualifying campaign, and in Dublin last month.
The Greek media have billed it as ‘must win’ but Jovanovic said: “Ireland are a very serious team and difficult to play against.
“I said it before the game in Ireland that they have a lot of passion as a team and as a people - and that makes them difficult to play against.
“They deserved to win in Finland and have come here feeling good. We have to be equally as good as our last game to get a result. Not all matches are the same so we have to think about ourselves.”
Liverpool’s Kostas Tsimikas is a doubt with a fever but will be given every chance to feature.
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