England v Greece: Nations League – live

David Hytner witnessed Greece making history on an emotional night at Wembley. Here’s his report. Thanks for reading this MBM.

As for the other game in Group B2 … FULL TIME: FINLAND 1-2 REPUBLIC OF IRELAND. “Heartbreak for the home side, as Ireland turned things around and won 2-1 against the Eagle Owls,” reports Kári Tulinius. “Liam Scales headed in a fine Robbie Brady free kick, and the latter was then the beneficiary of a cross from Festy Ebosele. Heimir Hallgrímsson seems to be getting his ideas across, as this was very reminiscent of his Iceland.”

1. Greece P3 W2 D0 L0 F7 A1 Pts9

2. England P3 W2 D0 L0 F5 A2 Pts6

3. Republic of Ireland P3 W1 D0 L2 F2 A5 Pts3

4. Finland P2 W0 D0 L3 F1 A7 Pts0

Greece’s two-goal hero Vangelis Pavlidis talks to ITV. “It was a really special game for us because of George … of course we gave everything for him … and for his family … a great win but more important is the emotions … we are people … a special night because of him … it is a really difficult moment for us because George was part of the team … a special guy … we had a lot of time together … we have to play for him … it doesn’t matter the score, we want to play for him and we give everything for him.”

Lee Carsley talks to ITV. “I think we were probably second best for a lot of tonight … it’s disappointing … you’re going to get setbacks … it’s important we respond well against Finland … we tried something different … overload the midfield … we’ve experimented with it and we’re disappointed it didn’t come off … it was unrealistic to expect too much … it’s a case of trying again … all of the goals came from mistakes … even at 1-1 we were quite fortunate at that point … when you’ve got someone of Harry Kane’s quality, it rules [the new system] out … in the future we’ve got to have that courage to try things … my remit is to do the three camps and nothing changes in that respect.”

“Georgie, for you!” Lazaros Rota turns to the camera and dedicates Greece’s victory to George Baldock. Quite a few of their side in floods of tears. It’s difficult to watch these young men grieve their friend, and yet the result they’ve achieved to celebrate his life also makes the scene so very heartwarming. Kisses of comfort and arms being thrown around each other in mutual support. A team in mourning.

John Stones, England’s captain for the evening, is asked by ITV whether the best team won. “I think so, yeah … on a personal note I’m absolutely gutted … first time with the armband and to have a result like this … it’s hard to put into words … obviously every emotion yesterday … we have to give credit to them … from the start they put us right under pressure … we found it difficult to come out from the back and play our normal football … break the lines … they were very compact … disappointed … we worked [on the new system] … it’s something we know as players … we’ve got to deliver … we didn’t create enough clear-cut chances … a lot of counter-attacks … a difficult night … a lot was riding on it for me personally … we saw it as a great opportunity to top the group … we’ve got to move forward.”

Greece are collectively overcome with emotion. Their two-goal hero Vangelis Pavlidis taps the badge, sends a kiss into the air, and points to the heavens, then his black armband. The substitute Dimitris Pelkas, barely holding back tears, holds up George Baldock’s white No2 Greece shirt. His team-mates grab a corner to make sure their dearly departed friend’s name is visible to all. This is for him, that much is extremely clear.

That’s no more than Greece deserve. What a performance under the most trying of circumstances. They were magnificent from the get-go until the very end of play. They’ve beaten England for the first time in their history. They’ve scored at Wembley for the first time in their history. They’ve had the ball in the England net on five separate occasions! They’ve secured the win their efforts thoroughly deserved, and in doing so, remembered their fallen team-mate George Baldock in the best way possible. The most bittersweet of glorious victories.

Greece beat England for the very first time!

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90 min +6: England push forward, but Colwill bowls Pavlidis to the ground and the game is surely up. Then a very brief VAR check for Rota’s late clatter into the back of Madueke, but it’s not going to be a penalty.

90 min +5: On the touchline, Lee Carsley drops to his haunches. He knows the jig is surely up.

Greece have surely snatched it! It’s Pavlidis again! Konstantelias and Pelkas drive into the box down the middle. Lewis and Colwill get in each other’s way, in the slapstick style. Both fall over as Pavlidis takes a touch to the right and slams low and hard through Pickford and into the bottom left!

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90 min +3: Pavlidis has also been booked, for a tug on Lewis moments earlier.

90 min +2: A pass infield from the Greece right. Pelkas hopes to meet it, just outside the England box, but Pickford comes charging out to blast clear. Pelkas keeps going and cleans out the keeper, earning a booking in the process.

90 min: Alexander-Arnold, out on the right, sends a long diagonal towards Madueke, who meets the dropping ball on the corner of the six-yard box but can only flap his shot into the side netting. Vlachodimos had it covered. There will be five additional minutes.

88 min: This scoreline seriously flatters England. And there’s still time for a winner!

Alexander-Arnold slips a pass down the inside-right channel for Watkins, who reaches the byline and pulls back diagonally. The ball makes it all the way back to Bellingham, on the left-hand edge of the D. He meets it with a low drive that’s palmed upwards by Vlachodimos and into the top right!

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86 min: That’s Tzolis’s last act of the evening. He’s replaced by Konstantelias, while the captain Bakasetas makes way for Vagiannidis.

Pavlidis was off when Tzolis rolled across. England breathe again. Not for the first time this evening, either.

A fine move by Greece, but England make it far too easy. Pickford bowls out. The ball’s intercepted by Giannoulis, who advances forward down the left flank. Giannoulis slips the ball to Tzolis on the overlap. Tzolis crosses low. Pavlidis is in the middle. He opens his body and slams home.

82 min: Koulierakis spins Watkins then goes down to purchase a cheap free kick. Watkins frowns in frustration. Greece pushing England’s buttons right now.

81 min: Bellingham wins a corner down the left. Stones flicks Alexander-Arnold’s delivery into a crowded six-yard box, but once again Greece clear their lines without too much fuss. England are beginning to spend a bit more time in the Greek box, even if Vlachodimos still hasn’t had too much to do. An improvement of sorts.

79 min: Watkins and Bellingham make a nuisance of themselves in the Greek six-yard box … but they can’t get a proper effort on goal, and eventually the flag pops up for a foul anyway.

78 min: This is better from Alexander-Arnold, at the other end of the park, as he gets back to nick the ball off Tzolis, who was preparing to tear clear on goal.

77 min: Rota’s poor pass back gifts England a corner. From the set piece, Alexander-Arnold looks to float a diagonal pass to … nobody in particular.

76 min: Madueke makes a couple of decent runs down the left. He can’t quite make space for a shot with the first; he wins a corner with the second. Alexander-Arnold’s delivery isn’t up to much … and Greece counter, three on two! Pelkas rolls a pass down the middle to release Tzolis, who is one on one with Pickford … but sends his wedge over the keeper wide left. Then the flag pings up correctly for offside. Greece make a proper mess of a big chance to put this game to bed.

74 min: Kourbelis, who has just gone into the book, is replaced by Mantalos.

72 min: A long punt down the England right. Bellingham has Watkins in the middle, but attempts an outrageous lob over the keeper from 30 yards. The ball always floats high and wide left. Before the game can restart, Solanke comes on for Foden.

70 min: Pelkas’s delivery from the left is no good whatsoever. England set about clearing their lines. Bellingham makes his way up the right and is unceremoniously upended by Kourbelis, who goes into the book.

69 min: Greece string together a few crisp passes, much to the annoyance of England, who still look a bit unsteady post-goal. Lewis is forced to concede a corner down the right. Bellingham half-clears. The ball’s returned into the mixer. Pickford flaps at it, and here comes another corner, this time from the left.

67 min: Bakasetas goes over holding his foot. Time ticks on. Bellingham, not for the first time this evening, makes his views known in the full and frank style. The referee tells both players to stop the nonsense.

65 min: A double change for Greece: Masouras and Siopis make way for Pelkas and Zafeiris.

64 min: Palmer drives down the right and attacks Giannoulis with purpose … but the Greece left-back is up to the task, refusing to budge, forcing Palmer to turn tail, then stripping him of possession.

63 min: Vlachodimos goes down to get some treatment / take some sting out of the game. The keeper is back up on his feet quickly enough.

61 min: That would have been a hell of a well-worked goal, but Pavlidis was well off. England respond by replacing Gordon with Watkins, whose first touch is to stride down the inside-right and blaze a shot over the bar.

59 min: Greece have the ball in the England goal again. On the left touchline, Tzolis brings down a long pass in glorious style. Such a silky touch. He immediately shuttles the ball further along the flank towards Pavlidis. He romps into the box and cuts back for Masouras, who slots powerfully into the bottom right. But the flag goes up, correctly, for offside on Pavlidis.

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57 min: Madueke cuts in from the right and shoots, but his harmless effort is easily deflected away from danger. Wembley is murmuring.

56 min: Foden tees up Lewis on the edge of the D but Masouras arrives before a serious shot can be unleashed. “Forget David Beckham,” advises Chris Paraskevas. “Terry Butcher as the Pivot would be an improvement at this point.”

54 min: … Bakasetas drives a low, hard ball into the six-yard box from the left. Pickford scoops it off his line, but not in a totally convincing style. England are rocked back on their collective heels here.

53 min: England are rattled, and Rice clanks clumsily into Siopis, Palmer having given him a hospital pass. Rice goes into the book. The free kick, hit long from the right, is headed across the face of goal by Koulierakis and turned out for a corner. From which …

52 min: In the build-up to the goal, Saka went down. He can’t continue, and limps off gingerly. He’s replaced by Madueke, whose first act is to win corner down the right. The set piece comes to nothing.

51 min: Pavlidis immediately tugs at his black armband, before taking it off and hoisting it into the air. Such a bittersweet moment, and a beautiful dedication to George Baldock.

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Koulierakis dives down the inside-left channel before laying off to Pavlidis, who dances into the box, past four England players. He opens his body and whips a low shot across Pickford and into the bottom right. What a dribble! What a goal! But from England’s point of view, what awful defending.

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49 min: Masouras chases a long ball down the right. He’s got Tzolis free in the middle, and a ball infield would put England in all sorts of bother, but Colwill ensures there’s no way through. But it’s all in vain, because …

47 min: Saka makes good down the right and flicks into the box for Alexander-Arnold, who attempts to return the ball with a cheeky back-flick. It doesn’t quite come off, but England come again, through Bellingham down the left now. He dribbles into the box but can’t get a shot away. Greece hold their shape and clear their lines.

Greece get the second half underway. No changes. Lee Carsley sticking with his plan. For now.

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Half-time postbag. “No Beckham to bail England out this time. If only Charisteas was still kicking around, this would be a lock for Lord Byron’s boys” – Chris Paraskevas

“I get it, if done quickly with attacking intention, going short on a corner instead of lofting it into the mixer can make sense. But on the last England corner they went short, and passed it around without taking a shot or passing it into the centre. Why? What a waste” – Mary Waltz

“Billy Ditchburn’s biblical fire-and-brimstone pun has burned a ditch in my lawn!” – Peter Oh

England’s all-the-talents attacking plan hasn’t worked. Not yet. Greece will be very happy with that. Levi Colwill should be very pleased with his acrobatic goal-line clearance, too, without which Tasos Bakasetas would have scored Greece’s first-ever goal at Wembley. Some big decisions for Lee Carsley to make at the break.

45 min: Saka is booked for cynically hauling back an in-flight Masouras.

44 min: … Alexander-Arnold’s delivery is headed half-clear by Mavropanos, who has been excellent so far. Bakasetas and a not particularly happy Bellingham then collide as the ball pings out for another corner. Nothing comes of that one.

43 min: Gordon dances down the left and forces Siopis to toe-poke behind for a corner. From which …

42 min: Greece are doing a fine job of keeping England at arm’s length. Wembley is pretty quiet as a result … bar the 4,000 Greek fans enjoying themselves right now.

40 min: Alexander-Arnold doesn’t shoot. Instead he loops towards Stones and Colwill at the far stick. Mavropanos hooks clear, then Colwill skittles Vlachodimos to the floor, and there goes that pressure.

39 min: England over-elaborate at the corner. But then Kourbelis clumsily clips Foden, just to the right of the Greek D, and it’s a free kick in a dangerous position. Palmer took one from here earlier; this one might go to Alexander-Arnold.

37 min: Saka jinks in from the right and takes a shot. He might as well, there aren’t any options. His shot is blocked, but nearly falls to Bellingham in the box. Just a corner.

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36 min: Stones slips Alexander-Arnold into space down the right. A cross is sent in towards … nobody. A fair chance we’ll see Ollie Watkins and Dominic Solanke sometime in the second half.

34 min: Greece knock it around the back awhile. The visitors look pretty comfortable at the moment. They’ve certainly created the better chances.