Borussia Dortmund's New Spark: Konstantelias and Karetsas Shine Before Injury
Borussia Dortmund had just found their new spark when the lights went out.
On Saturday evening at Signal Iduna Park, Giannis Konstantelias and Konstantinos Karetsas didn’t just make their Bundesliga debuts. They changed the temperature in the stadium. The football was fast, daring, intricate – the kind of stuff Dortmund fans demand but haven’t seen often enough in recent seasons.
"They are two lads who can bring us a different dimension here, and will do too – they showed that today," coach Niko Kovac told Sky after the 2-0 win over Hamburger SV. It didn’t sound like polite praise. It sounded like relief.
A new dimension in black and yellow
Kovac had flagged it before a ball was kicked. This squad, he said, now had the personnel to deliver what so many demand: something spectacular that still serves the team. Against HSV, that promise took shape in the two Greeks who arrived from smaller European leagues and immediately looked at home on one of the Bundesliga’s biggest stages.
Konstantelias and Karetsas did not just replace Julian Brandt, now at Ajax Amsterdam. They twisted the role into something sharper. Both can do what Brandt did between the lines, but they add a crucial extra: they generate dynamism from a standing start. One touch, a feint, a burst – and suddenly the game is tilted.
They are more proactive, more vertical, more ruthless in tight spaces. The kind of players who turn a lull into a chance in a heartbeat.
Konstantelias lights it up
The first 45 minutes against HSV were a statement. Dortmund’s new No. 10s between the lines, Karetsas and especially Konstantelias, constantly drove the tempo. The Greek playmaker had already teased his talent in the Super Cup defeat to Bayern Munich, but this was different. This was his stage.
His close control at full speed stood out. So did his agility and the way he glided through challenges. Then came something that doesn’t always come with flair players: aggression without the ball. Around the half-hour mark, Konstantelias snapped into a duel in midfield, won the ball, and the Südtribüne roared as if he’d scored.
Soon, he did.
Shortly before half-time, he provided the “cherry on the cake”. Cutting in, he went for the near corner with a no-look finish. A Hamburg defender’s deflection helped the ball on its way, but the move oozed invention. It was his first Bundesliga goal, his first league game, his first real communion with the Yellow Wall.
"First half, top – that was perfect. We implemented everything we wanted to implement," defensive leader Waldemar Anton enthused on Sky. It was hard to argue.
After barely 100 minutes in a Dortmund shirt, Konstantelias already felt like a future crowd favourite. You could almost see the next weeks and months unfolding: more tricks, more goals, more noise.
Then Sunday came.
From euphoria to shock
A day after the win, Dortmund confirmed the diagnosis everyone had feared on Saturday night. Konstantelias had suffered a cruciate ligament tear on his league debut. The club expects him to be out for several months.
"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 sporting managing director Lars Ricken. "For now, however, his focus and ours is on his recovery. Giannis has our full support in that."
Kovac had already sounded grim after the match. "We have to talk about something more serious there. We will have the examination on Sunday. But at least it doesn't sound good, from what the doctor told me," he admitted.
The injury came shortly after Konstantelias had narrowly missed his second goal. In an innocuous-looking challenge, his knee twisted. He went down immediately, stayed down, and his expression as he left in the 54th minute told its own story. For a player who had just lit up the league, the timing could hardly be crueller.
A different Dortmund with – and without – Giannis
The 26-million-euro signing had already shown he was more than a luxury piece. With him, Dortmund’s attacking play flowed. Without him, it slowed.
BVB’s dominance faded after the break. HSV improved, yes, but the drop in mobility and creativity once Konstantelias went off was obvious. The visitors suddenly found more time to breathe.
HSV captain Nicolai Remberg summed it up bluntly on Sky: "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 was talking about the first half. About when Konstantelias and Karetsas were still roaming between the lines.
Together, the two Greeks caused most of Hamburg’s problems. They rotated intelligently, always available, always on the half-turn. Their first touch killed the ball, their second injected pace. Attacks became quick and precise in the same movement.
"Brutal," Anton called their display. "The mobility they have, how dangerous they are – that is a huge quality at that age and it is something we need for the future as well. I'm glad we have them with us."
Now Karetsas has lost his perfect partner, just as the partnership was forming.
The replacement puzzle
Inside the club, the mood around Konstantelias went beyond tactics. "I felt incredibly sorry for the lad. From day one here he has had a terrific presence, also in the dressing room. We all already like him very much," said sporting director Ole Book, who had watched the injury to the player he and the hierarchy had absolutely wanted with a worried look.
On Saturday, Kovac brought on Marcel Sabitzer for Konstantelias. The Austrian is reliable, disciplined, and experienced, but he doesn’t have the same imagination between the lines. Dortmund’s attacks lost that element of surprise.
On paper, Samuele Inacio is the closest profile in the squad. The 18-year-old, though, had a debut to forget, earning a straight red card shortly after coming on against HSV. His talent is not in doubt. Whether he is already ready to carry Konstantelias’ role is another question entirely.
Maximilian Beier offers a more seasoned option. Kovac, though, had planned to use the Germany international on one of the flanks. Moving him inside would open a new hole out wide and force a rethink of the entire attacking structure.
All of this comes with the transfer window ticking down. The summer market closes on Tuesday, 1 September, at 8pm. Ricken had already hinted that the club’s stance could shift depending on the severity of the injury: "Depending on how serious the injury actually is, we will shape our further steps accordingly. But one thing is certain: over the next three days we are not planning anything."
That certainty may now be tested.
The Sancho question
So who could step in from outside at the last minute?
Said El Mala, once Dortmund’s preferred option before they moved for Konstantelias, is off the table. He has extended his contract at 1. FC Cologne. One name, though, refuses to disappear from the Dortmund orbit: Jadon Sancho.
On paper, the fit is obvious. Sancho is a similar type of player: comfortable between the lines, deadly from a standing start, able to create chaos with a drop of the shoulder. Like Konstantelias and Karetsas, he can turn a static situation into a scoring chance on his own.
Speculation over a third Sancho spell at BVB had cooled after the arrivals of the two Greeks. Now, it might resurface. During his first stint in Dortmund, Sancho played the best football of his career. He is now 26, out of contract after leaving Manchester United, and currently without a club. From a financial perspective, he would come on a free transfer, though only if he accepts a significant wage cut.
The sporting risk is harder to read. His recent loans at Chelsea and Aston Villa were largely disappointing. The question hangs in the air: is there still a top-level player in there, or has that version of Sancho gone for good?
Dortmund’s new season had begun with the promise of a fresh creative axis in Konstantelias and Karetsas. Now one half of that duo faces months on the sidelines, and the club must decide whether to trust youth, reshuffle from within, or roll the dice on a familiar face with an uncertain ceiling.
The window shuts on Tuesday evening. How bold are BVB prepared to be?
