The players of Crvena Zvezda were defeated by Benfica with a score of 1:2 in the first match of the Champions League, and Vladan Milojević, the head of the professional staff of our team, expressed his impressions after the match.
- We played a good game against a quality opponent. What decided it were two goals that we must not concede, especially not at this level. It's difficult to get back into the score at 0:2, but the reaction was good and we continued to play the way we want to. Benfica is a quality team, but in the end they cost us cheap goals that we are allowed to concede even in training. Tomorrow is already training, every game is important, let's move on - started Milojević.
He explained the forced solution in the form of Elšnik in the position of left back.
- Drkušić had an injury in training and did not manage to heal it, it would have been a big risk if he had played. Let me say right away what concerns some speculations. As for Radonjić, he is not fully ready, he will need a lot of time. I don't see that Dalsio played spectacularly badly, he is a quality player. Coming in unheated at this level is very difficult. In some thinking with the coaching staff, we looked at what to do after we lost Mimović, and at that moment we did not expect that at all. We had a problem with Seol as well, so we had to beat it, since we don't have full-backs. Rodić is injured, he had a surgical intervention, I hope that in two to three weeks he will be ready and return to training. This was a forced decision, but at the end of the day, Elshnik did the right job and played well. I don't see that we had a problem, Benfica did not create any serious opportunities for us. Apart from the post, they didn't have a better chance. We got to their 20-30 meters very easily, but they played in a good position, they are experienced players .
He is not optimistic when it comes to Ognjen Mimović's injury.
- I don't know. I'm afraid it's not a good situation. He has a problem with his foot, he went for a shoot, you will get information. He's playing great, he's imposing and full of confidence, but what can we do, it's football. Injuries happen, let's not suspect, but I'm not a big optimist as far as injuries are concerned .
Mistakes are an integral part of football, it is important to learn from them.
- As a coach, I never pointed a finger at anyone. Every time you score a goal, it's the work of the whole team. So you can always find bad situations, why did it happen, none of them wanted to do it, but we repeated many times that football is a game of mistakes, loss of concentration and many other factors. It is very difficult with such quality teams to concede such goals. Just like in basketball when they say you commit a foul so that there are no easy points, here in football you must not concede a goal easily .
A bad start, the second half is a signpost for the next games.
- There is no special way. In my philosophy, the players clearly know the things they need to do. If I ever get angry or tell them what to do, I only say it when they don't do what the agreement says. We just kept doing what we had been doing up to that point. Benfica gained control of the ball in some moments where we were late. In situations where we wanted to control the game, we lost the ball and then there was confusion. In the second half, everything was much better .
For each game, the team will prepare separately and give their best.
- I can't imagine how it will be. We had a plan, until the next game there is plenty. Every day we spend together will mean something to us. Seven days of training means a lot to us. What worries me more is that in these situations we won't have much time for training, everything is based on recovery. That's my job, we have to find solutions, and I believe we will find them .
He is satisfied with his team's performance against Benfica.
- In this format, it is very difficult to talk about it. We are not a team that is going to the Champions League final, we have to be realistic. Maybe the previous defeats were harder for me personally, because we didn't have a game and it wasn't what I wanted for a number of reasons, let's not go back to that now. I want to see a team like this, make mistakes and we have a lot of things on this release base that we need to fix. We played a men's game against a Benfica team in front of our fans. We played a quality and interesting match. It's a negative result for us, but it makes me proud because the players gave their best. It's a formula in the way we want to play and it needs to be worked on. Maybe the opponent will be much stronger sometime, so we won't be able to apply everything we have prepared. This duel is behind us, now comes the domestic championship. We will prepare for all the games and at the end we will draw a line. I am proud that we are where we are and that we managed to bring such big teams to Belgrade. We will do our best to play well and provide good games .
Milojević gave a short answer to the question about the eternal derby.
- That game is completely different, we have time to prepare - Milojević concluded.
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