Pančev: Zvezda makes continuous successes, Marakana is a miracle

- Over the years, things in football have been changing, and now it is much more difficult and a greater success to be a participant in the group stage of the Champions League. Football simply depends on money. Eastern European clubs used to be stronger, and in addition, now even very young players are leaving clubs and it is difficult to keep them. The teams from the east of the Old Continent are no longer so competitive. However, what Zvezda is doing is an extraordinary success. Placement in the Champions League brings finances and great matches. In the previous eight years, Crvena zvezda achieved excellent results. The management led by the general director Zvezdan Terzić and the sporty Mitra Mrkel, as well as the rest of the management, demonstrated perfect work and that all led to success - Pančev said.

The performer of the last penalty in Bari looked back on the match of the play-off for placement in the most elite club competition in Europe.

- The match against Bode Glimt was well played. I said during Milojević's first term that he is an exceptional coach, even though I don't know him personally and I didn't follow his work before that. I like how he does his job, knows how to set up a tactical team and the team is physically well prepared for all demands, including high pressing. There is no need to talk about motivation, you know how it is when you play in front of a full stadium. The Norwegian representative is an excellent team that knows how to play, but in Belgrade they simply sank into the Maracana cave. Zvezda was much better and deservedly qualified for the Champions League .

After Red Star, Pančev wore the jersey of Italian Inter, and one of the best centre-forwards in the history of our club spoke in detail about our opponents in the Champions League, including "Neroazuri".

- I'm glad that the draw is extremely attractive, because star players will be able to come to the stadium to enjoy and watch good teams. Sometimes it is better to play against a great team and lose the game, than to be a rival to a "weaker" or less attractive team and experience defeat. I think the fans can be satisfied. First of all, we will welcome Barcelona, Benfica, PSV, which is a good and attractive team, as well as Stuttgart. The Germans have a distinctive style of football, and Stuttgart used to be much better, but have declined over the last two decades. When it comes to visiting, only a big team like Red Star can visit San Siro twice. In recent years, Inter has been better than Milan, but we remember a few seasons ago when we were defeated 1:0, and we had good opportunities and should have definitely equalized the result. We have already proven that we can play against the best and why not hope for a surprise. The boys got the opportunity to show themselves in front of a large audience - Pančev concluded.

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