The good feelings lasted about 53 minutes. In that far-too-brief period of time, we got to see a glimpse of what the 2026-27 Borussia Dortmund squad could do, even without Joey Veerman or Nico Schlotterbeck. But with Konstantinos Karetsas and Giannis Konstantelias, the two signings designed more than anything to reinvigorate the club as a whole, out on the pitch showing what they were made of, we were flying.
Hamburg couldn’t get out of their own half, much less touch the Dortmund goal. The Greek
kids looked every bit the talented studs that were promised. Karetsas played a perfect combo with Guirassy to set up the Dortmund striker for his and the club’s first goal of the season. Then, just before the half, Giannis opened his own account when Maxi Beier played him into the box. He dribbled, found a bit of space, and took a shot that took a very fortunate deflection off Sebastiaan Bornauw and into the net. The deflection was so lucky I thought it might be ruled an own goal, but the Bundesliga’s website still gives it to Giannis as of writing this.
Aaaaaaaaand that was it for the good feelings. BVB came out into the second half and it took eight minutes for the season to end. Giannis challenged for a ball, tweaked his knee without contact, and had to be subbed off. Niko Kovac subbed on Marcel Sabitzer, but Giannis’s absence was noticed immediately. Hamburg controlled the play much better in the second half, and to add to the sour mood, Samuele Inacio received a straight red card towards the end of the match with a late slide-tackle that connected with Albert Grønbæk’s shin. Inacio walked off in tears.
So Dortmund held out for the 2-0 win and clean-sheet, but the mood was irrevocably destroyed. We can never have nice things, and when we do they only get briefly teased before they get ripped away. The night is dark and full of terrors.
Here are my reactions:
- I’ll just say it because we’re all already thinking it: I’m very nervous that Giannis tore his ACL. Depending on the severity he could potentially miss the entire season, but even a partial tear would put him out of action for multiple (read: at bare minimum three months). Bottom line, unless it’s a miracle and it’s only a Grade 1 or something less severe like a meniscus tear (which would still require many weeks’ recovery), we’re not seeing him back on the pitch any time soon. If I’m Ole Book, I’m trying to find a last second cheap winger on the transfer market.
- I’ve seen a lot of BVB fans get very angry at Samuele Inacio for throwing a water bottle at the BVB shield on the wall of the tunnel as he walked off. I think they’re being ridiculous. Inacio is only 18, and he was appearing in front of a home crowd during the season debut. He then committed a red card-worthy foul less than 5 minutes after he came on, putting his team’s chances in danger and getting himself suspended. Even though his tackle was worthy of a red card, it still wasn’t intentional. Niko Kovac stated that when he returned to the locker room after the game, he found Inacio in tears. I’m sure he was absolutely apoplectic. My guess is that Inacio just threw a bottle at whatever big round object was right in front of his face, and the thought “Hey I’m being filmed right now, maybe I shouldn’t throw something at the badge of the club I play for,” never popped into his head.
- Let’s talk about something other than the reasons for despair. I thought that despite the circumstances, there’s still reason to be optimistic for the season. Jobe Bellingham, who received a ton of criticism after the Supercup, had a very strong game and helped create Dortmund’s first goal. Karetsas was an absolute beast. He picked up his first Bundesliga assist with his pass to Guirassy, and forced a very strong save from Hamburg keeper Daniel Fernandes. Maxi Beier assisted Konstantelias’s goal with a very clever pass. Svensson and Ryerson were solid. I still think that if the squad can stay otherwise healthy there’s a very good team here.
- It’s possible that Book has other targets in mind, but if I were him, I’d offer Jadon Sancho a cheap 1-year deal and see what he says.
Your Thoughts
What do you think BVB should do now? Do you want Sancho or are there other targets you’d aim for?
