Borussia Dortmund’s U23s welcome Rot-Weiss Essen for a third league match on Friday evening. Five BVB talents are out, but one central defender is in a peak of form.

Antonios Papadopoulos has yet to make an appearance for Borussia Dortmund’s Bundesliga team. The center back signed a professional contract more than a year ago, but continues to play mostly for the U23s in the 3rd division.

This summer, the 24-year-old completed the preparation with the licensed team – but then had to cope with a disappointment. He was not considered for the Champions League squad. And he has not yet made it into the matchday squad in the Bundesliga season so far.

The German-Greek has been back with the U23s for just under a month, with whom he will face Rot-Weiss Essen on Friday evening (7 p.m., RS live ticker). Despite the lack of prospects with the professionals, Papadopoulos is not letting himself down: He has played the past five third league games over the full distance and shone as an important stabilizer in the center of defense.

Proof of this is that coach Jan Zimmermann’s team has remained unbeaten over this period. After three wins in a row, the last two draws were against Unterhaching and Bielefeld (2-2 each).

“He is not the oldest player with us, but still very experienced,” coach Zimmermann told club media about Papadopoulos. The ex-Hallenser lends the team “physicality and presence.” This is backed up by the four yellow cards Papadopoulos has received in the past four match days.

In the past two seasons, Papadopoulos was already a starter for the U23s when he was not in demand for the Bundesliga team. He has made six competitive appearances for Edin Terzic’s side and 58 for Borussia’s second team.

The next one will most likely be added on Friday. Meanwhile, five Dortmund players will have to miss the home game against RWE. In addition to Papadopoulos’ defensive colleague Hendry Blank, who is away with the German U20 national team, they are Silas Ostrzinski, Dennis Lütke-Frie, Prince Aning and Paul Besong.