Caoimhín Kelleher went from hero to villain as the Republic of Ireland slipped to a 2-0 Nations League defeat in Greece. The Liverpool goalkeeper, who had made three fine first-half saves before being beaten by Tasos Bakasetas’ deflected shot in the 48th minute, gifted the ball to substitute Petros Mantalos in stoppage time to allow him to seal the win.
Victory maintained the Greeks’ 100% start to the competition and kept them three points clear of England at the top of Group B2.
If the result was, ultimately, decided by a stroke of good fortune and an error, the win – a fourth over the Irish inside 16 months – was no more than Greece, still revelling in their 2-1 victory over England, deserved on a night when they dominated for long periods. Ireland, who ran out looking for back-to-back competitive wins for the first time since March 2019 following their success in Finland on Thursday evening, defended stoutly for much of a hard-fought contest, but were eventually undone in front of a partisan crowd of 30,253.
On an emotional night, the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium fell silent before kick-off as both teams paid tribute to Greece defender George Baldock following his death at the age of 31.
Austria’s Marko Arnautovic netted twice as they thrashed Norway 5-1 in the Nations League on Sunday, with the hosts keeping the usually prolific Erling Haaland quiet as the captain’s defence collapsed around him in their Group B3 clash.
Haaland, who became Norway’s all-time top scorer with a double in a 3-0 home win over Slovenia on Thursday that took him to 34 international goals, hit the post after six minutes, but that was as close as he came to scoring in a one-sided game.
Two minutes after Haaland came close Arnautovic, the Austria captain, fired a thunderous shot in off the underside of the bar to give his side the lead. Alexander Sørloth levelled in the 39th minute but Norway found themselves behind again four minutes after the break. This time it was visiting defender Andreas Hanche-Olsen who was at fault, inexplicably diving headlong into the path of Christian Baumgartner to concede a penalty which Arnautovic drilled in low to Orjan Nyland’s right to restore their lead.
Norway then collapsed from the 58th minute as they conceded three soft headers in 13 minutes to Philipp Lienhart, Stefan Posch and Michael Gregoritsch, who scored four minutes after coming on, much to the disgust of visiting coach Stale Solbakken.
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The result leaves Norway still top on head-to-head record ahead of Austria and Slovenia, who beat bottom side Kazakhstan 1-0 away, with the trio level on seven points after four games.