Kostas Tsimikas was not part of his national team's Euro 2024 qualifying match against France, as he had featured in their friendly victory against New Zealand last week.

"I could not play in the game against France because if I should take a yellow card, I would not play in the [play-off] games in March, which are more important than the one against France. I decided to come back earlier to the team, to be with the squad, to train with the team, to be more ready," he said.

He went on to add: "It was my decision and this is what I wanted to do because, as everybody knows, most of the time we play 12.30 after the international break and even the players who played far, they didn't come yet, they come probably one day, two days before the game."