Karetsas Collapse Shocks Dortmund Fans
Signal Iduna Park fell silent.
After 23 minutes of Dortmund’s clash with Villarreal, BVB winger Karetsas suddenly sank to the turf, no opponent near him, no crunching tackle, no obvious cause. Moments earlier he had glided past a defender, slipped a routine pass, then stopped, raised his arm and urgently called for help.
What followed shook the stadium.
Paramedics sprinted on. Team-mates looked on, frozen. The 18-year-old summer signing was treated at length, then carried off in tears, the crowd rising to applaud him as he disappeared down the tunnel.
Mats Hummels, watching on as a pundit for Prime Video, did not hide his unease.
"When the doctors didn’t look at his legs at all and were only focused on his upper body, it sent a shiver down my spine. We wouldn’t wish something like that on anyone. They were really horrible images that we had to see there," the Dortmund icon said.
Fear, shock – and a hospital trip
The club reacted quickly. Karetsas was taken straight to hospital for further checks. Sporting managing director Lars Ricken stressed that the priority now is clarity.
The Greek winger will be examined "to rule everything out in the end. We have to wait and see what the next few days bring," Ricken said after the 3-2 win over the Spaniards.
He admitted the scene had rattled him.
He had been "of course somewhat shocked. They were circulatory problems out of nowhere. There had been no indication of anything," Ricken explained.
Sporting director Ole Book echoed that sense of disbelief.
"I went out with him, but at that moment he was not directly able to speak. We obviously hope that it gets better very, very quickly and that it is nothing serious," Book said.
There had been no warning signs in training, no gradual build-up.
"It came very suddenly. He sat down and was then taken to hospital for further examinations, where he still is now. That obviously dampens the mood considerably," Book added.
At the start of the second half, BVB tried to calm the anxiety. The club announced that the teenager was "doing well under the circumstances". Coach Niko Kovac carried that message straight into the dressing room.
"I told my players that everything is fine. They are worried as well," Kovac said.
Injury curse hits BVB again
The images of Karetsas on the stretcher cut deep because they slot into a worrying pattern for Dortmund.
A longer lay-off for the Greek would be another heavy blow. New signing Giannis Konstantelias had already torn his cruciate ligament on his very first Bundesliga appearance against HSV on the opening matchday and faces a long spell out.
Dortmund reacted late in the window, moving for Ethan Nwaneri on loan from Arsenal as cover. On Tuesday night, it was Nwaneri who came on for Karetsas after the collapse.
And the problems do not stop in attack. The defence is creaking as well. For the Villarreal game, Kovac had to do without Nico Schlotterbeck, Emre Can and Filippo Mane, all missing through injury.
Ramy Bensebaini is still struggling with a rib contusion, though he would not have been available anyway because of the second yellow-red card he picked up in the 1-4 defeat at Atalanta Bergamo in February.
Dortmund left the pitch with a 3-2 win and a lively performance. Yet the real question now hangs over a young winger in a hospital bed and a squad already stretched to breaking point: how many more hits can this season absorb?
