There were hugely emotional scenes in Athens this evening as Ireland and Greece took part in a fitting tribute to George Baldock ahead of their Nations League clash.
Greek star Baldock was an accomplished footballer who had spent seven years playing with Sheffield United until this summer when he made the move to Greek side Panathinaikos. He had made just three appearances for the side before his untimely death last Wednesday.
Baldock who earned the last of his twelve international caps earlier this year when Greece lost to Georgia in their Euro 2024 playoff, was found dead in a swimming pool just one day before his country took on England in Wembley. The defender also appeared in Greece’s 2-0 defeat over Ireland in June 2023.
Greece’s trip to Wembley went ahead on Thursday despite the visitors’ request for a postponement. Tonight’s match in Piraeus marked the first opportunity for the Greek squad to honour their friend in front of a home crowd.
Emotional tribute paid to George Baldock
Ahead of kickoff this evening, both Ireland and Greece stood for a poignant minute of silence that saw a tribute to Baldock played across the stadium.
The video was met with an outpouring of grief from both sets of players and the crowd who were all visibly moved by the moment.
A touching tribute to George Baldock 🇬🇷🕊
Courtesy of our man on the scene @n_kalathakis#GREIRL #NationsLeague pic.twitter.com/oLmMXhhKAK
— Hellas Football (@HellasFooty) October 13, 2024
The fixture also saw both sides sporting black armbands in memory of the footballer.
Speaking ahead of the game on RTÉ, Richie Sadlier had tried to make sense of just what this occasion would mean to the team and how the tributes might affect them.
The Greek players are going to be standing there remembering a teammate, a friend, some of them playing for the same club as him.
He’d be in this squad if it wasn’t for injury. It’s impossible sitting here in the studio to get inside the emotions and the heads of those Greek players to know how this is going to impact and it’s going to be different from Wembley because it’s a Greek crowd. I’m sure there’ll be family members there tonight, his image will be up on the screen. There’ll be so many additional things that they’ll have to deal with.
In addition to this evening’s touching tributes, the tragic passing of Baldock was met with an outpouring of grief and tributes from all over the world.
Ireland’s Callum Robinson who had played with Baldock in Sheffield was one of the many who paid tribute to the Greek, with this touching post on Instagram.
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