Dragan Stojković, the coach of the Serbian football team, said, after his team's placement in the European Championship, that today is a big day for Serbian football and pointed out that his players showed a "terrible mentality" against Bulgaria and that they believed until the end.
The Serbian football team qualified for the European Championship, for the first time in 24 years, as it drew 2:2 with Bulgaria in the last round of qualification today in Leskovac.
"This is a big day for Serbian football. Serbia waited to have its own team at the European Championship. I congratulate the guys who fought to the end and believed. We are happy and satisfied," Stojković told Arena Sport after the game.
The last game of the national team at the European Championship was also Stojković's last game in the national team.
"It turns out like that... I said yesterday that the game would be interesting to watch. I knew it wouldn't be easy, but I think the players showed a great mentality, a mentality that should adorn a team that doesn't give up and believes in itself We achieved a result that is enough for us to take us to the European Championship and that is the most important thing," added the Serbian coach.
Serbia played two different halves today in Leskovac.
"In the first half, we controlled the game, created chances, took a 1:0 lead, but we knew it wouldn't be easy. We made mistakes again, both with the first and second Bulgarian goals, free goals. We managed to rise above that "It's not easy psychologically to play a game like this because we know what's at stake, but we were as focused as possible and we believed we could get that second goal and we succeeded," Stojković said.
Serbia finished the competition in the Group G qualification as the second with four wins, two draws and two losses, that is, with 14 collected points.
The Serbian national team is the 16th to qualify for the EURO, after Albania, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, England, France, Hungary, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey and the host Germany.
The draw for the group stage of the European Championship will take place on December 2 in Hamburg.
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