England 1-2 Greece: Vangelis Pavlidis destroys Lee Carsley's Three Lions twice despite a Jude Bellingham goal

Vangelis Pavlidis scored low in second-half injury time to seal England's 2-1 UEFA Nations League defeat to Greece at Wembley.

Pavlidis scored his second goal of the game in the 94th minute after defending poorly in the English penalty area.

England thought they had secured a draw when Jude Bellingham equalized three minutes from time.

Still, Lee Carsley's side, consistently the second-best team, got what they deserved because they let up on defense.

The result marked England's first competitive defeat at Wembley in four years and their first ever defeat against Greece, while Carsley suffered a blow in the third game of his interim term.

Carsley opted for an experimental starting XI in the absence of Harry Kane, opting for Anthony Gordon, Bukayo Saka, Cole Palmer, Phil Foden and Bellingham, but did not play a recognized striker, although he had Ollie Watkins and Dominic Solanke in reserve.

The warning signs from Greece were there early on: Pavlidis ran wide before a catastrophic mistake from Jordan Pickford left Levi Colwill having to clear a goalline, while Konstantinos Mavropanos had a header disallowed for offside.

Palmer fired over after England's best opening goal, but Pavlidis' opener in the 49th minute hardly disrupted the game. He dribbled his way through four defenders before scoring a fine finish over Pickford – Greece's first goal at Wembley.

Pavlidis might have had an assist when he fed Giorgos Masouras moments later, but the offside flag failed Greece, who ruled out another goal when Pavlidis took the lead before equalizing in the 83rd minute.

Bellingham's powerful long-range strike appeared to have pulled England out of the mud, but Greece had other ideas and after terrible defending from stand-in captain John Stones and his Manchester City team-mate Rico Lewis, Pavlidis drilled the deserved winner for the visitors, who took three points We were ahead of Group B2.

Carsley tried to give the England fans what they wanted, but by crowbarring Gordon, Saka, Foden, Palmer and Bellingham, too many cooks spoiled the broth.

England had no center of gravity and the one-sided nature of their team meant Declan Rice – who was poor – was unable to protect an exposed defense behind which Pickford was wobbling.

Kane will be back soon enough, but Carsley didn't react quickly enough in the game and that may be a cause for concern for the FA's decision-makers.

No surprises if you guess that! Pavlidis was brilliant and absolutely worthy of his two goals. In fact, he could easily have scored a hat-trick – at least considering he came close early on.

England's centre-backs simply couldn't cope with the Benfica striker, who dedicated his first goal to his former international team-mate George Baldock, who died in Athens on Wednesday.

It was an emotional, historic night for Greece that will be remembered for a long time.

England: Pickford 3, Alexander-Arnold 6, Stones 5, Colwill 6, Lewis 4, Rice 4, Bellingham 7, Saka 3, Palmer 4, Foden 3, Gordon 4. Subs: Madueke 6, Watkins 6, Solanke 5.

Greece: Vlachodimos 5, Rota 7, Mavropanos 8, Koulierakis 7, Giannoulis 7, Siopis 6, Kourbelis 7, Masouras 7, Bakasetas 6, Tzolis 7, Pavlidis 9*. Subs: Vagiannidis 6, Pelkas 6, Konstantelias 6, Zafeiris 6, Mantalos 6.

10 – Chance! England 0-0 Greece (Bakasetas): What a disaster Pickford could have been! He has played brilliantly for England so many times, but the goalkeeper has Colwill to thank after a ridiculous mistake. After doing well to win a loose ball, Pickford hesitates and is deprived of possession. Bakasetas quickly deflects the shot towards the gaping goal, but Colwill runs back to spare his goalkeeper's blushes and hits the ball brilliantly off the line.

11' – No goal! England 0-0 Greece (Mavropanos): From the following corner, England was completely reeling, with Pickford twice failing to get off his line convincingly. The second time he misses the ball and takes out one of his teammates, with Mavropanos able to head the ball home but the center back is offside.

22' – Miss! England 0-0 Greece (Palmer): That should be 1-0 for England! Gordon does an excellent job of creating space and passing a pass to Bellingham, who had made an attacking run behind the Greek defense. He lines up his marker and passes it back to the onrushing Palmer, but the 22-year-old shoots over the crossbar from ten meters away. Bad lady!

49' – Goal! England 0-1 Greece (Pavlidis): There's the goal, and maybe Carsley should have changed it at half-time! England are not alert and the goal that threatened Greece before the break comes. It comes through Pavlidis, who danced brilliantly through four defenders before leaving Pickford behind. He runs to the corner flag, pointing to the black armband on his arm before taking it off and pointing to the sky before his teammates pull out a Greek “Baldock” jersey.

59' – No goal! England – Greece (Masouras) 0-1: Carsley should have changed that much sooner and if he wants to get the England job on a full-time basis he will need to be a little more flexible when it is clear that a tactical plan simply isn't working. A long ball down the left catches the English defense off guard and Pavlidis is sent into the background. He passes to Masouras, who strikes, but the move is withdrawn for offside.

83' – No goal! England 0-1 Greece (Pavlidis): Greece believe they have a second left after Pavlidis fires the ball into the goal from close range. England received the ball sloppily in their own third, Tzolis took advantage and pushed the ball to Pavlidis, who sank the ball. But a VAR check showed the Greek striker had just been offside before the ball was played across.

87' – Goal! England 1-1 Greece (Bellingham): Out of nowhere, England are level, and it's that man Bellingham who scores the goal! Never one to shy away from big moments, Bellingham shouts at Palmer to leave it alone as the ball is rolled out of the box. Bellingham defends himself with a lot of conviction and sends a nasty side-footed shot towards the right corner. Vlachodimos gets to the ball and should perhaps save it, but instead parries it into the net.

94' – Goal! England 1-2 Greece (Pavlidis): That's it now! England thought they had saved it, but Greece surely had its winner??? It's terrible, terrible defending against the Three Lions as both the Stones and Lewis fail to clear their lines. The ball falls to Pavlidis and after setting himself up, he hits it past Pickford and into the goal. This time it will count and this will certainly pave the way for Greece to achieve their first ever victory over England!