Greece hero Nikos Dabizas reveals banter he had with David Beckham after Man Utd legend’s iconic England free-kick
GREECE hero Nikos Dabizas revealed a funny conversation he had with England legend David Beckham after his iconic free-kick in 2001.
Beckham led the Three Lions to the 2002 World Cup with a stunning last-gasp strike which sealed a 2-2 draw against the Greeks in the 93rd minute.
Greece were 2-1 up at Old Trafford thanks to goals by Angelos Charisteas and Demis Nikolaidis, either side of a Teddy Sheringham equaliser, which were set to condemn Sven-Goran Eriksson’s side to a tricky play-off with Ukraine.
But up stepped Becks for a final set-piece, 25 yards out of Antonis Nikopolidis’ goal.
He curled an impossible effort that caught the goalkeeper by surprise and sent England straight to the finals in Japan and South Korea.
Dabizas, 51, started that match and never forgot the Manchester United legend’s stunner that denied his team their first ever win over the English.
The Newcastle hero caught up with Beckham soon after in the Premier League for some belated post-match banter.
Dabizas told SunSport: “Yes, after the game – if I remember correctly – possibly later in a match against Manchester United. Relatively very soon. I messed with him, [I told him] ‘You got yourselves out of jail’.
“And he smiled. “[He laughed] It wasn’t a specific answer. [He’s] An absolutely normal guy.”
But Dabizas always knew how special that “unimaginably good” free-kick was for both England and Beckham’s career.
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And the ex-Leicester ace has fond memories of that match in Manchester as it marked the beginning of Greece’s journey to their historic Euro 2004 triumph under Otto Rehhagel.
Dabizas added: “I think he had an excellent performance in the game against us in 2001. It was a landmark match for his career and it was the first strong sign we gave as a team with Mr Rehhagel for what was to follow as we were very competitive in the qualifiers.
“We convinced ourselves that we can stand in front of very high-level teams because that England national team had a lot of talent. And the team that went to Portugal in 2004 had a lot of talent despite having some issues then in English football.
“Especially when they couldn’t capitalise on the characteristics they had as a team. They didn’t do that. They didn’t have the success they were capable of.
“Beckham was certainly a footballer who had tremendous appeal in set-pieces. His hits were unimaginably good. One of the best in the world [in terms of] the way he hit the ball and the trajectory the ball took.
“I believe it was a very special motion process. If anyone looks how he hit the ball will be able to understand that specialty that we mentioned.
“It was the last stages of the match, there was a lot of pressure, we were ahead, we were playing if I remember correctly with three central defenders. That’s when that whole story started with Mr Rehhagel trusting the system of three central defenders more.
“But I believe it was unavoidable with that part the game was on, when you have such an elite level footballer being able to get the ball either over the wall or the goalkeeper’s tight corner then I believe the difficulty level is very big.
“And it had that result that it had in the last stages of the match. And England qualified with that draw to the World Cup.”
Greece finally got their first ever win over England last month at their tenth time of asking after seven losses.
Dabizas watched Ivan Jovanovic’s men win 2-1 as a pundit at Wembley and will hope for a repeat tonight in Athens.
