The hosts had made an impressive start to this campaign, dispatching Serbia and Germany before facing an injury-depleted Oranje side in Thessaloniki. There was certainly a degree of nervousness within Xavi Hernandez’s team, and they were given a huge let-off when Christos Tzolis’ brilliantly taken individual effort was ruled out for offside inside the opening 15 minutes.
Tzolis was enjoying a lively start to the game, but Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta would have been wincing from afar when the forward was withdrawn with what appeared to be a hamstring problem.
Undeterred, Ivan Jovanovic’s men pressed forward and took a 23rd-minute lead when Fotis Ioannidis reacted to Georgios Masouras’ headed flick-on, drove forward, and opened up his body before firing home a precise finish past Bart Verbruggen.
The visitors were struggling to find a way past a tenacious Greek side, and the hosts deservedly doubled their lead seconds before half-time when Ioannidis turned provider for Masouras to slide the ball home.
Xavi’s side returned after the break with renewed vigour, halving the deficit a minute shy of the hour mark when Virgil van Dijk headed home from Joey Veerman’s corner.
Denzel Dumfries thought he had wiped out Greece’s lead six minutes later when he dispossessed Panagiotis Retsos in the box, but the defender’s blushes were spared after VAR determined that the Dutchman won the ball from an offside position. Dumfries then had a second goal ruled out when he diverted home Van Dijk’s header from another Veerman corner, with the hosts hanging onto their lead by a thread.
Just when the Greeks looked to be holding on for another famous win, Reijnders salvaged a point for the visitors after he rifled home a volley, as the home defence failed to deal with Noa Lang’s ball into the box.
The Dutch were good value for their point after a dominant second-half display, as they extended their unbeaten run in regulation time on foreign soil to 13 games (W7, D6).
ScoresStat Man of the Match: Joey Veerman (Netherlands)
