 Mitroglou playing for Greece in 2013. | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Konstantinos Mitroglou | ||
| Date of birth | 12 March 1988 [1] | ||
| Place of birth | Kavala, Greece | ||
| Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)[1] | ||
| Playing position | Striker | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Olympiacos | ||
| Number | 11 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| SV Neukirchen | |||
| TuS Preussen Vluyn | |||
| 2001–2005 | MSV Duisburg | ||
| 2005–2006 | Borussia Mönchengladbach | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2006–2007 | Borussia Mönchengladbach II | 33 | (14) |
| 2007– | Olympiacos | 84 | (41) |
| 2011 | → Panionios (loan) | 11 | (8) |
| 2011–2012 | → Atromitos (loan) | 28 | (17) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2005–2007 | Greece U19 | 14 | (12) |
| 2007–2010 | Greece U21 | 16 | (5) |
| 2009– | Greece | 28 | (8) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 10 November 2013.
† Appearances (Goals).
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 15 November 2013 | |||
Konstantinos "Kostas" Mitroglou (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Μήτρογλου, born 12 March 1988) is a Greek footballer who plays as a striker for Olympiacos and the Greek national team. Mitroglou started his career at Borussia Mönchengladbach, where he established himself as an excellent prospect. He was signed by Olympiacos in the summer of 2007 and has been with the club ever since, except for two loan spells at Panionios and Atromitos. He is nicknamed Mitrogoal and Pistolero by fans due to his goalscoring abilities.
Club career
Early career
Mitroglou was born, in Kavala, but soon after he and his family moved to Neukirchen-Vluyn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. He began his career at Maura Poulia. At the age of eleven, he scored 24 goals in 16 matches. He joined MSV Duisburg in 2001, after four seasons with the club, he joined Borussia Mönchengladbach. Mitroglou was a dominant player in the Under 19 Fußball-Bundesliga. He scored 14 goals in 10 matches and he made a record scoring 5 goals in a single match at an away win 3-5 againstMSV Duisburg.
Olympiacos
2007–2008
After making an impression in the 2007 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship, Mitroglou was signed by Greek champions Olympiacos. His first official goal with Olympiacos came in a 2-1 away win against Diagoras for the Greek Cup after an assist of Luciano Galletti. His first goal at the Super League came in a home win 4–0 againstLevadiakos.
During the last stages of the championship, Mitroglou played an important part in helping Olympiacos claim their 36th title, by first scoring the winning goal (2-1) at the last minute of the game against AEL after an assist by Mirnes Šišić. He then scored two goals in the last league fixture against Iraklis to seal the 3-1 home win. He also scored at a 2-2 away draw against Iraklis at the Greek Cup semi-finals, after an assist of Michalis Konstantinou.
He also scored the winning goal in the Greek Super Cup final against AEL.
In his first season, Mitroglou won both the Greek League and the Cup, while scoring 6 goals in total.
2008–2009
This season, Olympiacos appointed Ernesto Valverde as a head coach. Valvede dropped Mitroglou because he wanted a quicker and more offensive football to his team, so Kostas made fewer appearances than the previous season. He scored at an away win 0-2 against Nordsjælland at 2008–09 UEFA Cup first round. At Greek Superleague, he scored two goals in a home win 4–1 against Panionios.
2009–2010
After Valverde left Olympiacos, Mitroglou saw increased playing time. He scored his first goal of the season against Sheriff Tiraspol, at a 2-0 away win for the first leg of the Champions League play-offs, while also scoring at the returning leg (1-0 home win). His next goal came in a 2-1 home win against Standard Liège for the UEFA Champions League group stage. He scored in the home wins against Asteras Tripoli (3-0) and Ergotelis (2-1). His next goal came in an away draw 2–2 against PAS Giannina after an assist of Dudu Cearense. He also scored a goal in a heavy away loss 3–1 against Panserraikos.
He scored both goals against rivals Panathinaikos after the assists of Dudu Cearense and Jaouad Zairi. He scored two goals in a home win 5–1 against Levadiakos. His next goal came at an away loss 2–1 against Girondins de Bordeaux at the round of 16 of the knock-out phase of Champions League. His next goal came into a home win 2–0 against Atromitos. He scored a goal at an away win 0–2 against Panthrakikos after an assist of Vasilis Torosidis.
The regular season ended and Olympiacos did not win the Greek Superleague. The team forced to participate at Greek play-offs to reach the qualification places for next year Champions League.
Mitroglou ended the season with 9 goals in the Greek Superleague, 4 goals in the European competitions and one goal at the Greek Cup.
2010–2011
This season Valverde came back to Olympiacos as a head coach. Despite being a starter and scoring a spectacular goal in the opening league match against Iraklis (1-2 away loss), he further made only 4 appearances, as Valverde preferred to use Kevin Mirallas and Marko Pantelić, instead. He took part in the international match "8th Match Against Poverty" in 14 December 2010, at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium in Greece, as the Olympiacos All Star team's player and scored two goals.
Loan spells
2010–2011
In January 2011 he moved to Panionios F.C. for a six month loan. At his debut, he scored both goals in a historic 2-0 away win against Aris, the first for the club in 50 years. His next goals came at a 1-1 home draw againstPanathinaikos and a 1-1 away draw against AEK Athens, the latter after an assist of Georgios Galitsios. He scored the winning goal (2-1) against Atromitos and converted a penalty at the 3-3 home draw against AEL 1964. He added another one at a 1-1 away draw against Iraklis. He scored his last goal at the 2-1 away win against Kerkyra after an assist of Fanouris Goundoulakis.
Kostas Mitroglou ended this year with 9 goals in the Greek Superleague (1 with Olympiacos and 8 with Panionios).
2011–2012[edit]
Mitroglou was once again loaned, this time to Atromitos. He scored his first goal at a 1-0 away win against Aris Thessaloniki after an assist of Miguel Sebastián Garcia. He next scored at a 1-1 home draw against Panathinaikos after an assist of Denis Epstein. He scored two goals in a 2-1 home win against Panetolikos and one in a 1-0 away win against Doxa Drama. His next goal was at a 1-1 home draw against Levadiakos, once again assisted by Denis Epstein. He went on to score goals in the victories against Ergotelis (1-0) and OFI Crete (2-0).
His next goal came from the penalty spot in an 1-1 away draw against Panetolikos. He scored a goal in a 2-1 away win against PAS Giannina, and scored two goals in an other 2-1 away win against his former team Panionios. He next scored at a 2-0 home win against Doxa Drama and a 2-2 away draw against Levadiakos. He scored the winning goal (1-0) against Skoda Xanthi His next goal came with a penalty kick in a 2-2 away draw against Ergotelis.
He also scored a goal at the semi-finals of the Greek Cup against Asteras Tripoli and sent his team to the final against Olympiacos.
Mitroglou finished the season with 16 league goals, helping Atromitos to reach the Superleague play-offs for the first time, where he added one more goal in a 1-1 home draw against PAOK after an assist of Ilias Anastasakos.
This year he voted Superleague Greece Greek Footballer of the Year.
Back to Olympiacos
2012–13 season
The 2012-13 season found Mitroglou back to his team, Olympiacos. After Ernesto Valverde left, he was appointed by the new coach Leonardo Jardim. Mitroglou showed a good form in the pre-season training scoring a total of three goals, two of them in a friendly against Malaga CF at Karaiskakis Stadium. The season however started a bit irregular for him since he had to compete with 1st choice striker Rafik Djebbour for the starting eleven. That didn't get him much playing time and he came mostly as a substitute. His first goal of the season came in a 2-1 away win against PAS Giannina after an assist of Rafik Djebbour. At the same match he made the assist of the second goal to Djebbour.
At the absence of Djebbour due to injury, he was a starter for the second group game of the UEFA Champions League against Arsenal in the Emirates Stadium, where he scored the equaliser at the 3-1 loss. He next scored a goal in a 2-0 home win against OFI Crete after an assist of Paulo Machado. He scored again in the Champions League by netting the winning goal in a 2-1 away win against Montpellier HSC after an assist of Djamel Abdoun, and added another one against the same team at home to ensure a 3-1 victory.
His scoring streak continued as he next scored two goals in an 4-0 away win against rivals AEK Athens, and one in each 2-0 victory against A.O. Kerkyra and Panachaiki, the latter being a Greek Cup fixture. He scored his fourth Champions League goal at the 2-1 home win against Arsenal. His first goal of 2013, came in a 3-0 home win against Veria, after an assist of Juan Pablo Pino. On February 9, he scored the lone goal against Asteras Tripoli at the last minute of the game, giving Olympiacos the 1-0 away win. He scored the winning goal again at the 1-0 away win against A.O. Kerkyra.
His next goals came in a comfortable 4-0 away win against Platanias, and the classical derby against Panathinaikos F.C which ended 1-1. In the Greek Cup semi-finals against Panthrakikos, he scored two goals in the first leg to give a 6-2 home win and another two goals at the returning leg (2-1 away win) as Olympiacos progressed to the final with a total 8-3 aggregate. At the last league match, he scored the opening for a 2-1 home win against Panionios.
Mitroglou finished the season with 11 goals in the Greek Superleague, 5 goals in the Greek Cup and 4 goals in the UEFA Champions League, an impressive feat since he mostly played as a substitute.
He is the Greek Cup top goalscorer, having scored 5 goals and the second scorer of Olympiacos team having scored 20 goals in all competitions.
2013–2014
During the pre-season preparation at Seefeld, Mitroglou scored a goal in a 2-1 friendly win against Simurq PIK.
On the second matchday of Superleague Greece he made an assist to David Fuster in a 2-1 home win against Atromitos. On September 1, he scored his first career hat-trick in a 5-0 away win against Levadiakos after three = assists ofDavid Fuster. He scored his second hat-trick on the next fixture in a 4-0 home win against Skoda Xanthi, becoming the first player in Olympiacos' history, as well as the Greek League in general, to score two consecutive hat-tricks, while also having also scored in an international match between these two fixtures.
He got his third hat-trick of the season on October 2, scoring all three goals in a 3-0 away win against R.S.C. Anderlecht for the Champions League group stage. He became the first Greek player to complete a hat-trick in the Champions League, and along Predrag Djordjevic the only two Olympiacos players that have scored a hat-trick in the Champions League. His scoring streak continued, as he made yet another hat-trick four days later, in a 6-0 comfortable home win against Veria, while also assisting a goal to Joel Campbell. His next goal came at an away win 1-4 against Platanias F.C. after an assist of Alejandro Damián Domínguez. At the same game he also made an assist to Javier Saviola. On October 24, he made the assist to Alejandro Damián Dominguez in an away draw 1-1 against S.L. Benfica for the Champions League group stage. He next scored two goals at a home win 5-1 against OFI Crete with two headers after two assists of Joel Campbell. He next scored the winning goal at an away win 1-0 against Panathinaikos after an assist of David Fuster, at the classical Greek derby. Olympiacos won after 30 years atApostolos Nikolaidis Stadium. He next scored a goal at a home win 4-0 against P.A.O.K. F.C. after an assist by Joel Campbell.
International career
Mitroglou first called at national Greek football team U-19 at 2005. He scored a goal against Netherlands national under-19 football team for 2007 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualifiers at an away win 2-3 for the Greek team.He also scored two goals at a home loss 2-3 against Germany national youth football team for the same competition. He also scored a goal at an away win 0-2 against Italy national under-19 football team for the same competition and two goals at an away draw 2-2 against Croatia national under-19 football team. He also scored a goal at a home win 4-0 against Sweden national under-19 football team for the same competition. He participate at the 2007 UEFA European Under-19 Championship. He scored a goal against Portugal national under-19 football team at a win 1-0 for Greece at Linzer Stadion for the group stage. He also scored a goal at the same competition against Austria national under-19 football team at a draw 1-1 for the Greek team at Waldstadion (Austria). Finally qualified to the knockout stage of 2007 UEFA European Under-19 Championship and Mitroglou scored a goal against Germany national youth football team at a win 2-3 for the Greek team at Vorwärts Stadium. Greece qualified to final and lost 1-0 against Spain national under-19 football team. Kostas Mitroglou was the top goalscorer of the competition with 3 goals.
At 2007, Kostas Mitroglou promoted to Greece national under-21 football team. He scored two goals at a home win 3-1 against Macedonia national under-21 football team for UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifiers. He scored a goals at a friendly away loss 4-1 against Netherlands national under-21 football team. He scored a goal at a home draw 1-1 against England national under-21 football team for UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifiers. He also scored the winning goal at a home win 1-0 against Lithuania national under-21 football team for UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifiers.
At 2009 he has been selected for the Greece national football team. Mitroglou scored his first goal in an away win 2-3 against Norway with a fantastic strike. He scored a goal in a 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying game stage againstLithuania a home win 2-0. He scored two goals at an away friendly win 0-2 against Austria. He scored the winning goal in a 0-1 away win against Liechtenstein, after an assist of Vasilis Torosidis, in the 2014 World Cup qualifying.
Mitroglou scored 2 important goals on November 15, 2013 in Greece's 3-1 home win against Romania for 2014 FIFA World Cup Qualifying play-offs after two assists of Dimitris Salpingidis and Kostas Katsouranis. Four days later he scored the opening goal of the return leg in Romania, which ended in a 1-1 draw and sent Greece to the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
