Greece did not want to play their Nations League game with England following the death of George Baldock but had to, says midfielder Dimitrios Pelkas.
Former Sheffield United defender Baldock died at the age of 31 after drowning in his swimming pool in Athens.
He won 12 caps for Greece, who requested that the game be postponed.
But the match went ahead, with Greece recording a famous win when Evangelos Pavlidis scored a winner in stoppage-time.
Για σένα…🕊️
🏴 vs 🇬🇷 1-2 #Baldock #ethnikiomada #2goals pic.twitter.com/3Lxeb5XVQW— Ethniki Omada (@EthnikiOmada) October 10, 2024
Pelkas said: “It is like this, rules are rules, there was no other opportunity to play this game so we played today. 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.
“I don’t want to speak about football, yesterday 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.”
