BVB star Konstantinos Karetsas must sit out | OneFootball

Konstantinos Karetsas delivered a convincing performance in the Greeks’ historic victory over Germany. Even so, there is no guarantee that the 18-year-old will start the return leg in Thessaloniki.

Konstantinos Kartesas is expected to sit out the Greeks’ next two matches — at least if BVB coach Niko Kovač has his way. “Ruhr Nachrichten” reports that before the international break, Kovač contacted all 20 national team coaches whose associations had called up a Dortmund player. Those phone calls revolved around one topic: jointly managing the players’ workload. Two names were particularly at the center of those talks — center-back Nico Schlotterbeck and youngster Konstantinos Karetsas.

Nico Schlotterbeck returned from injury just in time to put himself in contention for new national team coach Jürgen Klopp’s squad. Although the defender was allowed to spend the entire international break with the Germany team, Jürgen Klopp left him out of the 1–0 defeat to Greece for workload reasons.

A similar scenario could now await young star Konstantinos Karetsas. He had only recently been forced off by circulation problems in Borussia Dortmund’s 3–2 Champions League win over Villarreal. But the Greek was available again in time for the international trip and was promptly named in the starting lineup by national coach Ivan Jovanović — twice in a row. Against Serbia, Konstantinos Karetsas played 74 minutes in the 2–1 win, and against Germany in Augsburg he was even on the pitch for the full match.

Greece caught between a rock and a hard place over BVB star Konstantinos Karetsas

As “Ruhr Nachrichten” reports, Konstantinos Karetsas is now expected to be rested more often in the two remaining matches — against the Netherlands on Thursday and against the Germany team on Sunday, both at 20:45. The reason is Dortmund’s packed schedule: next Friday, their next Bundesliga match against Werder Bremen is already on the agenda. BVB will need a fit and fully sharp Konstantinos Karetsas for that one.

Photo: IMAGO

Whether the Greek will actually get more rest in the next two games against the Netherlands and Germany remains open, however. After all, his national team is fighting for a place in the Nations League quarter-finals. After two of six matches, Greece sits top of the table. Another win in the next two games would all but secure the 2004 European champions a place in the next round.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.