Konstantelias and Karetsas Ignite Dortmund's Attack
Niko Kovac stood in front of the cameras with a win in his pocket and a knot in his stomach.
"These are two lads who can and will give us a different dimension here, and they showed that today," the Borussia Dortmund coach told Sky after the 2-0 victory over Hamburger SV.
He was talking about Giannis Konstantelias and Konstantinos Karetsas – and you didn’t need the quote to know it. Signal Iduna Park had just spent 45 minutes roaring them on like it had been waiting months for exactly this.
A New Pulse Between the Lines
On their Bundesliga debuts, the two Greeks gave Dortmund what this stadium has often craved lately: not just tricks, but spectacular football with purpose. The kind that speeds up the pulse and the scoreboard.
Kovac had flagged it even before kick-off. The squad, he said, now had the kind of players who could deliver the “spectacular things” many demand. Technically strong, brave in tight spaces, able to turn a static situation into chaos for the opposition in a heartbeat.
That is the core of this “different dimension”. Konstantelias and Karetsas, both signed from smaller European leagues, can do everything Julian Brandt once did for Dortmund. Then they add something extra. They don’t just link play, they ignite it. From a standing start, they explode. Between the lines, they don’t just find pockets of space, they tear them open and force new situations over and over again.
Konstantelias Takes Over
Against HSV, that quality was on full display in the first half. Dortmund’s attacks kept flowing through the same two shirts. Karetsas drifting, Konstantelias driving, both constantly rotating, both always available.
Konstantelias had already hinted at this in the Super Cup defeat to Bayern Munich. The close control at full speed, the agility, the way he glides past opponents – all of it was back, only sharper. This time he added a snarl without the ball too, snapping into duels. One midfield ball win around the half-hour mark had the Yellow Wall roaring as if it were a goal.
The actual goal wasn’t far behind.
Just before the break, Konstantelias made it 2-0 and marked his Bundesliga debut with a strike that summed him up. The shot took a deflection off a Hamburg defender, but the idea behind it was pure invention: a no-look finish aimed at the near corner, hit with the conviction of someone who feels the game bending to him.
"First half top, it was perfect. We implemented everything we wanted to implement," defensive boss Waldemar Anton told Sky, purring about Dortmund’s opening 45 minutes.
You could see why. After barely 100 minutes in black and yellow, Konstantelias already looked like the next cult figure.
Then the mood flipped.
From Euphoria to Fear
Just after he had gone close to a second goal, Konstantelias planted his foot awkwardly in a challenge. His knee twisted, his body followed, and the noise inside the stadium dropped. He stayed down, then walked off in the 54th minute with the look of a player who knows this might be serious.
"Of course, we should be a little bit careful today about what we communicate. But we are certainly concerned about a more serious injury," sporting director Ole Book said on Sky.
Asked about the possibility of a cruciate ligament tear, he didn’t dodge it: "That concern is there."
Kovac sounded equally worried. "We will have the examination on Sunday. But at least it doesn't sound good from what the doctor told me," the coach admitted.
If the detailed tests confirm the worst and Konstantelias is ruled out for months, it would be brutal. For him, after such an explosive start. For Dortmund, after they had just seen what he can do to their attacking game.
A First Glimpse of What Might Be Lost
The 26-million-euro signing has already shown exactly why Dortmund pushed so hard to bring him in. With him on the pitch, their attacking play looks lighter, quicker, less predictable. Without him, the gears grind a little more.
The second half against HSV underlined that. Hamburg improved, yes, but Dortmund also lost a huge chunk of mobility and creativity when Konstantelias went off. The rhythm dropped. The visitors suddenly found time to breathe.
HSV captain Nicolai Remberg explained the problem from his side of it. "When Dortmund play from right to left, play into the spaces in between, then first of all you do a lot of chasing and don't really manage to get into the press. That was our problem," he told Sky. The players doing the most damage in those spaces were Konstantelias and Karetsas.
Together, the two Greeks gave Dortmund’s game between the lines a level it hasn’t often reached in recent seasons. They rotated constantly, received under pressure, turned away from markers with a single touch, and always kept the ball moving quickly and precisely. Anton’s verdict on their display was short and accurate: "Brutal."
"The mobility they have, how dangerous they are, that is a great quality at that age and we need that for the future as well. I am glad we have them with us," he added.
All of which explains the sinking feeling now. After such a promising first impression, the idea that Karetsas might have to do without his ideal partner for a long stretch feels like a step backwards before the season has really begun.
The Big Question: How Do You Replace Him?
Book didn’t hide his frustration. "I felt incredibly sorry for the lad. He has had a great presence here from day one, also in the dressing room. We all already like him very much. When you then play such a good first half and have to be substituted and something more serious is feared, it is just unbelievably annoying," he said.
Kovac’s first answer on Saturday was pragmatic. He sent on Marcel Sabitzer, a more defensively minded midfielder, to stabilise. The Austrian did his job, but he doesn’t bring the same electricity between the lines. The whole profile of the team shifted a few metres back.
On paper, Samuele Inacio is the closest internal replacement. The 18-year-old is an attacking midfielder with the kind of skill set that could, one day, mirror some of Konstantelias’ traits. But his cameo against HSV ended in a flash of red and an early walk back to the dressing room. Whether he is ready to shoulder that responsibility now is, at best, uncertain.
Maximilian Beier is the more experienced option, yet using him centrally would force Kovac to abandon his plan of deploying the Germany international on one of the flanks. That, in turn, opens up a new hole out wide.
The clock is ticking. The transfer window closes on Tuesday, 1 September, at 8pm. Sporting managing director Lars Ricken tried to keep a lid on the speculation. "Depending on how serious the injury actually is, we will align our next steps accordingly. But one thing is certain: over the next three days, we are not planning anything," he said.
The caveat hung in the air: that stance may not survive a worst-case diagnosis.
Sancho, Again?
The market options are already narrowing. Said El Mala, once Dortmund’s preferred target before the Konstantelias deal, has extended his contract at 1. FC Köln and is off the table.
That leaves familiar ghosts. One name, in particular, refuses to go away: Jadon Sancho.
The Englishman fits the profile. Like Konstantelias and Karetsas, he can create dynamism from a standing start, break lines with the ball at his feet, and tilt a game on his own. Speculation about a third spell at BVB has bubbled for weeks and months, only to fade after the arrivals of the two Greeks.
But Sancho remains without a club after his contract at Manchester United expired. At 26, he is available on a free transfer. Financially, that makes him a low-risk option, provided he accepts a significant pay cut. Sportingly, the question is harsher: can he still be the player Dortmund once built an entire attacking structure around?
Recent loans to Chelsea and Aston Villa have not offered much encouragement.
For now, Dortmund are caught between exhilaration and anxiety. They have seen the future in 45 dazzling minutes from Konstantelias and Karetsas. The next days will decide whether that vision has to be rebuilt on the fly – and whether the solution lies in trusting raw talent, reshaping what they already have, or picking up the phone to a former hero in search of himself.
