Antonis Nikopolidis reveals error behind THAT David Beckham goal and how pushing England led Greece to Euro 2004 glory

IT only took half a step in the wrong direction to help David Beckham score his greatest ever goal in an England shirt.

That is how small the margin of error was for Greek goalkeeper Antonis Nikopolidis when he was called upon to face THAT free-kick 20 years ago.

On October 6, 2001 Sven-Goran Eriksson’s star-studded Three Lions were looking to punch their ticket to the 2002 World Cup when they took on Greece, a team seemingly in tatters after a humiliating 5-1 loss in Finland.

Old Trafford was in full festive mode until Angelos Charisteas silenced the home crowd in the first half and set up another nail-biter.

Teddy Sheringham put the nation’s fears at ease with an equaliser in the second half, but Demis Nikolaidis restored the visitors’ lead soon after.

The Greeks, who were playing their second game under Otto Rehhagel, held on until stoppage time when Kostas Konstantinidis fouled Sheringham 25 yards from Nikopolidis’ goal.

Beckham knew this was England’s final opportunity to avoid a tough play-off with Ukraine as he set the ball up in front of a nervous capacity crowd in the third minute of injury time.

“I wasn’t feeling anything [before Beckham’s shot],” Nikopolidis exclusively told SunSport.

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“When someone shoots from such a long distance it’s a lot easier to hit the corner over the wall. It’s also very hard to get the ball over the wall and make it go the other way.”

And it was that assumption that let Nikopolidis down as he expected Beckham to target his left corner, which is why he flinched towards that direction, only for the Manchester United legend to perfectly bend it the other way and make it 2-2 with an absolute wondergoal.

The Olympiacos legend added: “The ball went over the wall but didn’t go to the corner that the players guarded, it went to mine. I made a small step towards the left and when I made that half a step the ball went over and changed its direction towards my corner.

“But having placed my body to the left, while being too tired to immediately turn the other way, the ball went behind the net.

“My mistake was that small move I made thinking that he’s targeting the corner over the wall. Did he notice? Did he mean it all along? I can’t know that…

“Now I can say that I could have stayed in my position. But because I’m not a person that doesn’t like to risk and take responsibility, I won’t stay in my corner to protect myself. I’ll work extra to help my team.”

The fans went wild as England overtook rivals Germany to the top of the qualifying group and were officially through to the World Cup with a mighty fine chance of bringing it home.

But the Three Lions did come close to another heartbreak and the players had only themselves to blame, according to Nikopolidis, as they underestimated Rehhagel’s warriors.

The ex-Panathinaikos star added: “For England it was a celebration. Sometimes we felt like a punching bag. [They] were on party mode and everyone expected to celebrate with a lot of goals.

“Yes, we felt everyone was underestimating us. England thought, ‘here’s a team we’ll beat one way or another and have fun doing it’.

“The big picture was our performance and the fact that the English underestimated us, especially the players who didn’t respect the Greek team that included Champions League players who could cause you problems if you don’t take them seriously. That’s something they should have known.

“If you underestimate a team that you are not ready to fight the way its players fight then they will put you in a difficult position.”

England’s qualification and Beckham’s wondergoal made the headlines but the world had no idea this was a sign of things to come at Euro 2004.

Rehhagel’s era had kicked off and it was that unforgettable clash with Beckham and co that skyrocketed Greece to the biggest underdog story at international level that ended with them becoming European champions three years later.

Nikopolidis said: “It was the beginning of a strong team that we all know what it did in 2004.

“I would say it was the beginning of the Euro 2004 team’s creation. For us it was the first piece of evidence that something great is in the works. We’re finding a way to corner other teams.

"And the course from 2001 to 2004 proved us right. We played against Europe’s giants and proved to be competitive in every single game.”

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