Behind the south Maracana - Jelić believes in Zvezda's youth team

- The match against Young Boys was very good for us. First of all, I would like to congratulate the boys, Nenad Milijaš and the entire coaching staff, on an excellent edition. Just as we were not overly sad after the game in Manchester, we are not overly happy now either. It is very important to us that we are back on track, but this victory is important above all for the development of our children and their winning mentality. The most important thing is that we played well and created a large number of chances, but there is still a lot of room for improvement - began Jelić.

The director of the Crvena Zvezda Youth School commented on the course of the season so far and believes that everything will get better after the victory over Young Boys.

- From this point of view, it is very difficult to see whether the victory over Young Boys is the turning point of the season, given that we do not play in the same composition of the Serbian Youth League and the Youth Champions League. The "European" team is stronger and the course of the domestic championship so far would look much different if Red Star played in the league in that composition, even though it is not our strongest team when we take into account all the players who are contractually bound to our club and were born in 2005. . Certainly, our primary goal has always been clear, which is to develop players as quickly as possible. We are not dissatisfied with our parties in the Youth League of Serbia either. We had two or three weaker halves, however, even in the games where we did not win, we had many opportunities, as was the case against Young Boys, when we could have gained a serious advantage in the first half, only we missed those things. lost their heads in the domestic championship, because the youth and inexperience of the team came to the fore without players who train and perform for the senior team of Zvezda, i.e. Grafičar. I hope that we will stabilize in the championship and that this victory will lift the youth team, from whom we expect a good game on the weekend against Radnički from Kragujevac.

Nikola Jelić is optimistic about the reach of Zvezda youth players in the most elite competition.

- Crvena zvezda is the biggest club in the region and that's why it always has to have the biggest reach. We must not have excuses whether or not this is the strongest team, whether we have three or four players who are cadets by age. It should be known to the public that the team that defeated the Swiss had three training sessions together this season, so it is very difficult to combine all that and move from one rhythm in the domestic framework to a completely different one in European matches. The seniors of Zvezda and Graficara help us a lot in this, for whom it is most important to be healthy, due to the large number of matches they play at a higher intensity than their peers. I am sure that they will improve as a team from game to game and that they will build the necessary self-confidence with victories, which will mean a lot in the clash with the best academies in Europe, after which we will best see what level we are at and what we need to improve in our work.

Finally, he pointed out that football players with senior experience play a big role in the "European" team of our youth selection.

- We talked about the performance of the most experienced players, first of all I mean Jovan Šljivić, Jovan Mijatović, Kosta Nedeljković, Aleksej Vukičević and Andrija Maksimović, who is one of the youngest, but already plays senior football, and we came to the conclusion that their presence on the field means to all the other guys. The experience they gain in senior football is transferred to the youth team of Zvezda. Their calmness comes to the fore in the key moments of the game, which we saw on Wednesday and which we will see in the rest of the competition. Therefore, the team looks more effective and potential compared to the matches that are played without them - concluded Nikola Jelić.