Greek Drama: Barnabás Varga's clubmate retires from Greece national team

2026. március. 26., 20:00 |

He's faced Hungary twice in his twelve-year international career, but there will be no third appearance: Petros Mantalos, who's become a legend for his national team and AEK Athens over the past 12 years, will no longer wear the Greece jersey and therefore won't play in next Tuesday's friendly match against Hungary.

Greece have been dealt a big blow: Petros Mantalos, who made his international debut on 7th September 2014 in a 1-0 European Championship qualifying loss to Romania, has announced he'll no longer wear the national-team jersey, meaning that his 71st appearance was his last. Out of those 71 appearances, two came against Hungary, one win and one loss.

It's no exaggeration to say that a legend has bid farewell to the Greek national team. Barnabás Varga's clubmate Petros Mantalos became an AEK player in the summer of 2014 and has since played 426 matches. He'll continue his career at club level (his contract expires in the summer of 2027), but will only watch national-team fixtures from now on. He recently told Greece's head coach Ivan Jovanovic of his decision, which he accepted.

"I've spoken with him, yes, and I fully respect his decision," explained the 63-year-old head coach, who holds both Serbian and Greek citizenship. "He was an extremely useful member of our team, not only on the pitch, but also off it. We owe him our thanks because he helped the national team for a long time. He's a great man, a true professional, and I wish him all the best in the future; I hope we can see him play club football for many more years. We'll miss him, that's for sure."

Mantalos will also miss Greece's friendly match against Paraguay on Friday, as well as the following fixture against Hungary in the Puskás Arena next Tuesday. On these two matches, Jovanovic commented thus:

"We're playing two friendly matches against two teams with different styles, but which play to a high level. Since we've not had a match for four months, these two matches will be an excellent test for us."

Jovanovic may even give debuts to two new players against Hungary, PAOK goalkeeper Antonis Tsifcis and Panathinaikos midfielder Sotiris Konturis having received their maiden full international call-ups. If he recovers from the ankle injury suffered in last Sunday's 3-0 win against Kifisia by Tuesday, Hungary striker Barnabás Varga, who moved to AEK Athens in the January transfer window, could face a clubmate. A right-sided defender, Lazaros Rota would no doubt try his hardest to ensure that the striker, who has so far scored six goals in his 13 matches for AEK and is quickly becoming a crowd favourite, does not find the net this time...

Tickets for the Hungary vs Greece match are still available on meccsjegy.mlsz.hu.

GREECE SQUAD:

Goalkeepers: Odysseus Vlachodimos (Sevilla), Christos Mandas (Bournemouth), Konstantinos Tsolakis (Olympiakos), Antonis Tsiftsis (PAOK)

Outfielders: Konstantinos Mavropanos (West Ham United), Pantelis Hadzidiakos (FC Copenhagen), Panagiotis Retsos (Olympiakos), Konstantinos Koulierakis (Wolfsburg), Lazaros Rota (AEK), Georgios Vagianidis (Sporting CP), Dimitris Yanoulis (Augsburg), Kostas Tsimikas (Roma), Sotiris Konturis (Panathinaikos), Christos Zafeiris (PAOK), Nectarios Triantis (Minnesota United), Dimitrios Kurbelis (Al-Khalid), Christos Mouzakitis (Olympiakos), Konstantinos Karetzas (Genk), Christos Tsolis (FC Bruges), Georgios Masouras (Al-Khalid), Yannis Constantelias (PAOK), Anastasios Bakastetas (Panathinaikos), Vanegelis Pavlidis (Benfica), Anastasios Douvikas (Como), Andreas Tetteh (Panathinaikos).