Dimitrios Kourbelis was in no mood to make excuses.
“I left my team with ten players,” the Panathinaikos captain sighed after picking up a second yellow card just 33 minutes into the 1-0 reverse at Asteros Tripoli at the end of January (NovaSports)
“I am responsible for the defeat. I’ll accept any and all criticism for tonight’s game.”
And that, in a nutshell, is why Kourbelis wears the armband at the Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium. Yes, he made a mistake. One that potentially cost his side all three points. But not once did he shy away from his duties as skipper; fronting up in front of the media and taking all the blame upon his own shoulders.
Indiscipline, meanwhile, is not something Kourbelis is renowned for. That was only his fourth red card in nearly 300 Greek Super League appearances. An impressive tally, really, when you consider that his game is based so much around snatching back possession in the centre of the park, setting the tone with his mix of aggression, composure and bravery in a position where so many games are won and lost.
In that area of the pitch, your timing, and your mindset, usually has to be bang on. And, for the most part, Kourbelis’ usually is.
Rangers eye Dimitrios Kourbelis deal
Kourbelis has 30 caps for Greece. He’s been included in the Super League’s Team of the Year on three separate occasions; 2018, 2019 and 2020. Just last season, he captained Panathinaikos to the Greek Cup, ending an eight-year trophy drought.
And with reports from SDNA suggesting that Kourbelis has emerged as a summer transfer for Rangers – his contract expiring in July – the 29-year-old’s transformation into a more cultured, complete central midfielder could make him a potentially inspired addition for a coach in Mick Beale who demands both technique and tenacity from his players.
Kourbelis began his career as a ‘number ten’. After thriving as a ‘number six’ under former Panathinaikos boss Marinos Ouzounidis, he is now more of a ‘number eight’. A destroyer and a distributor.
It is this flexibility, plus his vast experience and natural-born leadership skills, that marks Kourbelis out as a smart signing for a Rangers side set to lose Ryan Jack, Steven Davis and Scott Arfield in a matter of months.
“He is cerebral, possesses the necessary calmness to play in this specific nerve-wracking position,” former team-mate George Georgakopoulos tells SportTime. “And he deserves all the best, because he’s a great kid and he’s worked hard.”
Of all the midfielders currently at Rangers, the one Kourbelis most closely resembles is Ryan Jack. Not just because of his willingness to grab a game by the scruff of the neck and lead by example. But also because of his ability to make a difference at either end of the pitch, whether that be with a crunching sliding tackle, a bursting run or a probing pass.
If Jack has proven himself at Ibrox to be the ultimate all-round midfielder – the ‘Jack’ of all trades, if you will – then Kourbelis feels like the ideal candidate to take that particular baton.
