Greece have beaten Germany once in 11 games, and they host Klopp’s side without Tzolis in Thessaloniki

Greece had never beaten Germany until 27 September. On Sunday night in Thessaloniki they get a second go, at home this time, with seven points from three games and the top spot in Group A2 of the Nations League to defend.

Jürgen Klopp brings Germany to the Toumba Stadium off his first win as coach, a 2-0 over Serbia in Munich on Thursday. Kick-off is 9:45pm local time, which is 12:15am IST on Monday.

How the group stands

Greece have not lost yet. They came from behind to win 2-1 in Belgrade, beat Germany 1-0 in Augsburg on 27 September through a deflected Dimitris Kourbelis shot, and were 2-0 up on the Netherlands at half-time on Thursday before Virgil van Dijk and Tijjani Reijnders pulled it back to 2-2.

That leaves Greece on seven points, the Netherlands on five, Germany on four and Serbia on none. Germany drew 1-1 in Amsterdam, lost in Augsburg and then beat Serbia with goals from Tom Bischof and Florian Wirtz. The Netherlands host Serbia in Eindhoven at the same time.

The maths is simple enough. A Germany win pulls them level with Greece on seven. A Greece win puts six points between the two sides with two games left.

Greece lose Tzolis

Ivan Jovanović will be without Christos Tzolis, who pulled up with a right hamstring problem against the Netherlands and did not want to come off. “I’m his coach, I tell him to go out and he says ‘I’m not going out’,” Jovanović said afterwards, adding that he wanted to protect the player in a Nations League game. Tzolis was part of the move for the winner in Augsburg, so this is a real loss. Giorgos Masouras, who scored on Thursday, is the obvious replacement.

The other selection story in Greece is 18-year-old Konstantinos Karetsas. Borussia Dortmund asked for his minutes to be limited, and Jovanović was having none of it. “Since I’ve been the national team coach here, there hasn’t been a single club in Europe that has demanded special treatment from us,” he said. “As long as I’m the coach, there won’t be any exceptions either.”

Germany without Gnabry, Havertz and Musiala

Klopp’s squad has thinned out. Serge Gnabry, who captained the side against Serbia, has gone back to Bayern Munich to manage his workload, with Klopp saying he was feeling the strain. Kai Havertz and Jamal Musiala are still injured, and Joshua Kimmich was one of the players allowed home after the first two games. Lennart Karl and Said El Mala are the young options to fill the wide spots.

Klopp was in a good mood at Saturday’s press conference. Asked about Tzolis, he called it a pity for the player, for Greece and for his club. Asked about this Greek side, he went further than most coaches would about an opponent: “This could be a golden generation. They can all play, they all have pace, they all score goals.”

There was a Liverpool subplot too. Kostas Tsimikas, who played under Klopp at Anfield, had joked about using what he learned from his old manager. “Costas is quite a joker,” Klopp said. “Maybe tomorrow I’ll see exactly what he learned from me, or, hopefully, he learned nothing at all.”

What to expect

Germany had three quarters of the ball in Augsburg and lost. Greece had 29 per cent of it against the Netherlands and were a minute from winning. I expect the same shape on Sunday: Germany pressing and passing, Greece sitting deep and breaking quickly.

Without Tzolis, Greece lose their best outlet on the break, and that tilts things towards Germany. But Wirtz and company scored twice from a lot of chances against a Serbia side missing Dušan Vlahović and Aleksandar Mitrović, and Greece will defend much better than that. A draw would suit Greece fine. Germany need more than that to make this group a real race.

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