Recently, BVB has been graced by two young Greeks who are strong dribblers and who score and prepare goals themselves: 23-year-old Giannis Konstantelias and 18-year-old Konstantinos Karetsas. The fact that Serhou Guirassy (9th) prepared the 1-0 in the first game of the season against HSV Karetsas on Saturday evening and that Konstantelias scored the 2-0 himself (45+1) was a black and yellow Hellas dream. Blue and white Greek flags were waved in the stands. The Sirtaki boomed from the speakers. But suddenly this Greek comedy turned into a Greek tragedy in Germany's largest open-air theater, the 80,000-seater stadium in the south of Dortmund.
In the 51st minute, Konstantelias twisted his knee while trying to steal the ball from an opponent. Frightened, he grabbed it, lay down on the grass and covered his face with both hands. That didn't bode well. After three minutes of treatment, Konstantelias limped off the pitch, but was no longer able to continue playing and looked very anxious.
The two young Greeks represent a significant investment for Borussia Dortmund this summer. The club is reportedly transferring 30 million euros to the Belgian first division club KRC Genk for Karetsas. For Konstantelias, 26 million euros will go to the Greek first division club Paok Saloniki.
It is the first transfer summer for the new BVB sports director Ole Book, who had previously reliably proven his transfer accuracy at SV Elversberg. On Saturday evening, at the start of the Bundesliga season against HSV, it already seemed to be true that Book and BVB had made a fabulous move with the two Greeks. But then Konstantelias grabbed her knee.
“We hope for the best, but fear the worst,” says BVB sports director Lars Ricken
On Sunday, the young Greek, whose family had come to the Dortmund stadium especially for the game and had to see the accident with their own eyes, was due to be examined in hospital. In the evening the diagnosis came from Dortmund, the club confirmed Konstantelias' feared cruciate ligament tear. But the fears of those responsible in Dortmund had already sounded very bleak on Saturday evening.
With such an injury, the downtime is often at least six months - up to nine months. The season is probably largely over for Konstantelias. “His substitution makes me sad,” coach Niko Kovac said shortly after the game. He goes into the new season with the internal and public expectation of faster, more spectacular and more successful football, and in this project the Greek magic duo were earmarked for leading roles.
“This news hits us very hard because Giannis has already shown in a very short time why we see him as a great player for Borussia Dortmund,” said BVB managing director Sport Lars Ricken on Sunday. The summer transfer period closes next Tuesday. Transfers may be made until that day. And so BVB would even have the opportunity to react to a possible Konstantelias loss with an additional transfer. “At least we haven’t planned anything for the next three days,” said Ricken, wanting to indicate that they were thinking about becoming active again on the transfer market at short notice. “We would have to think about it,” said coach Kovac. "We would have to see what else would be possible; we don't know whether we would do something, but we would at least think about it, that's clear."
And so Dortmund's 2-0 win at the start, actually a cause for joy, showed a few fine cracks. The 18-year-old Italian striker Samuele Inácio, who came on as a substitute for the Greek Karetsas in the 74th minute, made a rough tackle just three minutes later, for which he received a red card. As he went into the dressing room, a TV camera filmed him throwing a water bottle against a BVB coat of arms on the wall. Coach Kovac reported how he found Inácio crying in the dressing room. After a sending off and a two-game cup ban for left winger Ramy Bensebaini in the Supercup against Bayern Munich, the red card for Inácio was already the second sending off.
On Tuesday, BVB will play its DFB Cup first round game against fifth division club HEBC Hamburg (8.45 p.m., RTL), next Saturday it will visit TSG Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga and three days later it will welcome FC Villarreal for its first Champions League game. The season opens immediately with high frequency.
