Mitroglou out, Sokratis in for Greece

Greece will miss talismanic striker Costas Mitroglou in its key clash with Bosnia on Tuesday due to his injury in the game at Liechtenstein, but at least it will welcome back captain Sokratis Papastathopoulos.

Mitroglou picked up a leg injury that is ruling him out of the game at Zenica, so coach Angelos Anastasiadis has called up Panionios striker Fiorin Durmishaj to replace him.

This is the first ever invitation for Albanian-born Durmishaj, who has also played for the Under-21 national team of Albania. Anastasiadis stated on Monday that the Greek federation is still waiting for UEFA to confirm Durmishaj can play for Greece.

The Greek manager will likely have Papastathopoulos available for this difficult encounter, though on Monday he stated that he will wait till the last minute for the Arsenal player to confirm his own fitness, before fielding him against Bosnia.

Asked on Monday, Greece’s national holiday, whether qualification to the Euro 2020 finals would mean something given that this time, after many years, the national team is coached by a Greek, Anastasiadis stated: “I feel great responsibility, and if we achieve the target of qualifying to the finals, this will have a great significance for all Greeks.“