Midfielder Dimitrios Pelkas has said Greece did not want to play their Nations League match against England after the death of George Baldock, but forced themselves to win in his honour.

Baldock, a former Sheffield United defender, died aged 31 by drowning in his swimming pool in Athens. He won 12 caps for Greece after qualifying to represent them through a grandmother, and was last involved in their squad for the 2024 European Championship play-off defeat to Georgia.

Greece paid tribute to their teammate after beating England for the first time with a stunning 2-1 win at Wembley, with Vangelis Pavlidis scoring an injury-time winner.

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

“It’s like this: rules are rules, UEFA has no second chance to play this game, so we played today,” he said. “We wish him this victory. When these things happen in life, football is the second part. The most important thing is that our friend George has passed away.

“We will never forget him, today I was sure that he would be with us from above and that he would celebrate with us and push us to achieve this victory. I don’t want to talk about football. Yesterday was very difficult for all of us, we couldn’t talk, we couldn’t laugh, we couldn’t eat at the hotel.

“It was a really tough day. I would like to convey my condolences to his family, for them this is the most difficult period. It was very difficult, it was one of us, he was an excellent guy, it’s like he was with us from a very young age.

UEFA has been contacted for comment.