Greece wins victory over Republic of Ireland after Caoimhín Kelleher blunder | League of Nations

Caoimhín Kelleher went from hero to villain as the Republic of Ireland slipped to a 2-0 defeat in the Nations League Greece. The Liverpool goalkeeper, who made three fine saves in the first half before being beaten by Tasos Bakasetas’ deflected shot in the 48th minute, gifted the ball to substitute Petros Mantalos in stoppage time to seal the win.

The win maintained the Greeks’ 100% start in the competition and left them three points clear of England at the top of Group B2.

If the outcome was ultimately decided by a stroke of luck and a mistake, then the victory – a fourth over the Irish in 16 months – was no more than what Greece, still reveling in the 2-1 victory over England, deserved on a night in which they dominated for a long time. Ireland, looking to make it back-to-back wins for the first time since March 2019 after their success in Finland on Thursday night, defended themselves vigorously for much of a hard-fought match but were ultimately undone in front of a partisan side. crowd of 30,253.

On an emotional evening, the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium fell silent before kick-off as both teams paid tribute to Greek defender George Baldock following his death at the age of 31.

AustriaMarko Arnautovic scored twice during their thrashing Norway They went 5-1 in the Nations League on Sunday, with the hosts keeping the usually prolific Erling Haaland quiet as the captain’s defense collapsed around him in their Group B3 clash.

Haaland, who became Norway’s all-time top scorer on Thursday with a double in a 3-0 home win over Slovenia that took him to 34 international goals, hit the post after six minutes, but that was as close as he got in a one-sided game.

Two minutes after Haaland went close, Austria captain Arnautovic fired a thunderous shot from the underside of the crossbar to give his side the lead. Alexander Sørloth leveled in the 39th minute, but Norway fell behind again four minutes after the break. This time it was visiting defender Andreas Hanche-Olsen who made the mistake, inexplicably diving headlong into the path of Christian Baumgartner to concede a penalty which Arnautovic drilled low into Orjan Nyland’s right to take the lead restore.

Norway then collapsed from the 58th minute when they conceded three soft headers in 13 minutes from Philipp Lienhart, Stefan Posch and Michael Gregoritsch, who scored four minutes after coming on as a substitute, much to the horror of visiting coach Stale Solbakken.

The result still puts Norway at the top of the head-to-head record, ahead of Austria and Sloveniawho defeated the bottom Kazakhstan 1-0 away, with the trio on seven points after four games.