Greeks Abroad Recap: Donis & Karelis Progressing Well In Comebacks, Goal for Hatzidiakos
AGONAsport’s George Tsitsonis rounds up the performances of Greeks playing in other leagues in this week’s Greeks Abroad Review.
Ultimately, it was an average week for Greek players plying their trade abroad. However, there still were some notable achievements. For starters, two players who were recently struggling with different injuries are showing positive signs of progress.
Tasos Donis, whose shoulder injury saw him miss Greece’s World Cup Playoff matches versus Croatia, finally returned to action for VfB Stuttgart this week. Nikos Karelis has been getting matches over the last month in Belgium for Genk after missing nearly a year due to a serious knee injury. This weekend, Karelis’ Genk lost, but the Greek international laid off an assist showing he is well on his way back to full fitness and form.
Also noteworthy this week was the continued good performances of central defender Pantelis Hatzidiakos of AZ Alkmaar. The 20-year-old, born in Rhodes, scored the only goal of the game to move his side into second place in the Dutch Eredivisie.
Below is a player-by-player breakdown of notable Greek players playing in foreign leagues.
MAIN MEN (Comprised of current/former national players and/or Greeks playing in higher profile leagues)
Kostas Mitroglou (Marseille/Ligue 1): Started on the bench and came on for the final nine minutes in the 1-1 draw with Montpellier
Kostas Manolas (Roma/Serie A): Returned to the starting eleven and played the entire game in the 3-1 win over SPAL
Vasilis Torosidis (Bologna/Serie A): Not selected to the matchday squad
Marios Oikonomou (SPAL/Serie A): Selected to matchday squad, but remained on the bench
Andreas Samaris (Benfica/Portuguese Primeira Liga): Played the final 25 minutes of the 0-0 draw in the derby against Porto
Sokratis Papastathopoulos (Borussia Dortmund/Bundesliga): Played the full match in the 1-1 away draw to Bayer Leverkusen
Kyriakos Papadopoulos (Hamburg/Bundesliga): Played the entire match in the 0-0 draw with Freiburg
Panagiotis Retsos (Bayer Leverkusen/Bundesliga): Came on as a halftime sub in the 1-1 home draw versus Borussia Dortmund
Kostas Stafylidis (Augsburg/Bundesliga): Not selected to the matchday squad
Tasos Donis (VfB Stuttgart/Bundesliga): Returned to the pitch after a long injury layoff. Came on as a 57th minute substitute in the 1-0 defeat by Werder Bremen
Dimitris Diamantakos (Bochum/ Bundesliga 2): Played the final 12 minutes in the 2-1 win over Union Berlin
Jose Holebas (Watford/English Premier League): Not selected to the matchday squad
Orestis Karnezis (Watford/English Premier League): Selected to matchday squad, but remained on the bench
Andreas Bouchalakis (Nottingham Forest/English Championship): Came on as a 68th minute substitute in the 4-2 away defeat to Ipswich
Zeca (FC Copenhagen/Danish SuperLiga): Played the entirety of the 3-1 away loss to Nordsjaelland
Apostolos Vellios (Nottingham Forest/Championship): Not selected to the matchday squad
Giannis Gianniotas (Real Valladolid/Segunda Division): Selected to matchday squad, but remained on the bench
Giannis Maniatis (Alanyaspor/Turkish Super Lig): Not selected to the matchday squad
Giorgos Tzavellas (Alanyaspor/Turkish Super Lig): Not selected to the matchday squad
Georgios Samaras (Samsunspor/Turkish 1. Lig): Selected to matchday squad, but remained on the bench
Michalis Sifakis (Samsunspor/Turkish 1. Lig): Selected to matchday squad, but remained on the bench
Basis Lykogiannis (Sturm Graz/Austrian Bundesliga): Not selected to the matchday squad
Nikos Karelis (Genk/Belgium First Division A): Finding his footing after a massive injury. Karelis played the entire 90 minutes against Mechelen in a 3-2 defeat. He notched an assist for Genk’s second goal
Alexandros Tziolis (Al-Fayha/Saudi Professional League): Played the whole game in the 2-0 away defeat to Al-Raeed
Ioannis Fetfatzidis (Al-Ahli/Saudi Professional League): Played the entire game in the 2-0 away loss to Al-Hilal
Sotiris Ninis (Maccabi Petah Tikva/Israeli Premier League): Played the final 18 minutes of the 0-0 draw against Hapoel Ra’anana
Stefanos Athanasiadis (Maccabi Haifa/Israeli Premier League): Came on for last three minutes of the 1-0 defeat to Hapoel Haifa
ENGLAND
Dimitris Konstantopoulos (Middlesbrough/English Championship): Selected to matchday squad, but remained on the bench
Ilias Chatzitheodoridis (Brentford/English Championship): Selected to matchday squad, but remained on the bench
GERMANY
Giannis Gelios (Augsburg/Bundesliga): Not selected to the matchday squad
SPAIN
Dimitris Siovas (Leganes/ La Liga): Not selected to the matchday squad
ITALY
Michalis Iliadis (Salernitana/Serie B): Not selected to the matchday squad
PORTUGAL
Tasos Karamanos (Rio Ave/Primeira Liga): Selected to matchday squad, but remained on the bench
FRANCE
Alexandros Katranis (Saint-Etienne/Ligue 1): Not selected to the matchday squad
Christos Tasoulis (Lens/Ligue 2): Not selected to the matchday squad
Panagiotis Vlachodimos (Nimes/Ligue 2): Selected to matchday squad, but remained on the bench
HOLLAND
Kostas Lamprou (Ajax/Eredivisie): Not selected to the matchday squad
Thanasis Karagounis (Zwolle/Eredivisie): Not included in the matchday squad
Pantelis Chatzidiakos (Alkmaar/Eredivisie): Played the whole match and score a goal for his side in the 2-0 away win versus VVV Venlo
Kostas Tsimikas (Willem II/Eredivisie): Returned from injury and played the whole match in the 3-1 win over Heracles
BELGIUM
Dimitris Kolovos (Mechelen/First Division A): Played the final minute of the 3-2 win over Genk
Stergios Marinos (Charleroi/First Division A): Played the full 90 minutes of the 1-1 away draw versus Oostende
Stelios Kitsiou (St. Truiden/First Division A): Played the whole game in the 1-1 draw with Mouscron
Charis Charisis (St. Truiden/First Division A): Scored his team’s only goal in the 1-1 draw with Mouscron, came off with a minute remaining in the match
Dimitris Goutas (St. Truiden/First Division A): Along with Charisis, Goutas also played the entire game in the draw with Mouscron
Kostas Rougalas (Westerlo/Division B): Selected to matchday squad, but remained on the bench
TURKEY
Andreas Tatos (Elazigspor/ 1. Lig): Started the match and played 70 minutes of the 2-2 draw with Adana Demirspor. Tatos got on the scoresheet for his team.
Andreas Vasilogiannis (Umraniyespor/1. Lig): Started the 2-1 away defeat against Ankaragucu, but came off in the 81st minute
AUSTRIA
Thanos Petsos (Rapid Vienna): Not selected to the matchday squad
SCOTLAND
Giannis Skondras (Hamilton/Premier League): Played the entire game in the 1-1 away draw to Hearts
Giorgos Sarris (Hamilton/Premier League): Like Skondras, Sarris also featured for Hamilton, playing the whole match in the draw with Hearts
AUSTRALIA
Avraam Papadopoulos (Brisane Roar/A-League): Missed out on the weekend match due to suspension
