In the expansion of the most popular game, a sea of top and increasingly strong leagues, competitions and fantastic matches - goals, defenses, assists, dribbling that change from day to day, the extraordinary ones are still not forgotten. Like the two gaetas (a joke in the game, a trick) that Diego Maradona learned on the streets of Buenos Aires in the famous World Cup match with England.
And despite dozens of daily matches, it is incredibly difficult to make a "gaeta" twice in the same match, especially at the top level. And Bayer Leverkusen, undefeated in all 37 games this season, belongs to the greatest possible. Despite this, "Pharmaceutics" were a few minutes away from elimination in the round of XNUMX of the Europa League in a duel with Karabagh.
The match was marked by one of the two Marks with the Azerbaijani team, Vešović, as his namesake and colleague from the national team, Janković, also played fantastically in Karabagh. Vešović tricked the defense of Ćabi Alonso's team for the first goal, and then once again, with an assist, and with a player less for the second.
However, with three goals in stoppage time, Bayer went further, with a total score of 5:4.
- I believe that we would have gone further if we had equal criteria. But, the leader of the strong Bundesliga and a club from Azerbaijan? Different criteria cost us a lot. Nevertheless, we showed that we belong to the European top in terms of quality, we practically secured the title in Azerbaijan, and we hope to repeat the result in Europe next season or even do something more. The problem is the league coefficient, which is low, because only Karabagh makes results in Europe. That's why we have to try to reach the Champions League through the qualifications - says the 32-year-old Montenegrin representative.
Vešović played a key role in the Frenchman Zubir's leading goal in the 58th minute, and in the 74th minute he took away the entire right side from his rival for an assist to Žuninj. However, the home team used more players to make up for the turnovers in the seventh minute to advance to the quarterfinals. The scorer of three goals in stoppage time of the two matches, Patrik Šik, did not hide his surprise at the play of Vešović and his teammates: "unusual and unusual style, moves, they were the most difficult games of the season for us", admitted the Czech striker.
- Those two actions, moves with which I created an advantage for the team, are not taught in training or football schools. Let's say that I "sold them tickets" from the streets of Podgorica - from Tuški puta. However, the glory belongs to the scorers and Žuninjo is objectively the best player in the team. As it is true that no one wants to leave Karabagh, but we will have a hard time keeping him, because there are a lot of good offers coming. The public didn't miss my performance either, immediately after the match, Ćabi Alonso's assistant came up to me congratulating me and not hiding his enthusiasm for the decisions against his team, and obviously everything was interesting on television and I received numerous invitations, even a paid dinner from the restaurant owner upon returning to Grandma - says Vešović.
The former footballer of Budućnosti, Crvena zvezda, Rijeka, Torino and Legia Warsaw is already playing for the third season in the best Azerbaijani club, he has a contract for the next one as well, while Marko Janković has just signed a new one.
- He deserved it and showed that he is currently one of the most prepared midfielders, even with one less player in two games he held the middle. Against Braga for 120 minutes. I entered the season with a calf and hamstring injury, since October everything is fine, but in the first minute against Bayer I received an unpleasant blow, the pain lasted until I asked for a change in the 86th minute, considering that a more rested teammate can contribute more in defend the victory. I'm often criticized for not being able to protect myself, to give my best from the first to the last minute on the field, in training... I can't do it any other way and I don't want to, they appreciate it here, as well as in the other clubs I played for - pointed out Vešović. who is overjoyed in Azerbaijan.
- Everything here is great, and I especially like the temperature because it was great for me in Legia before, but I never liked playing at minus 10 Celsius. Besides, Russian is mostly spoken here, so I learned another one, and Azerbaijani is extremely difficult. Sometimes we speak English in training. The atmosphere is excellent, there are no misunderstandings, because coach Gurban Gurbanov is now a big European name, and we are like one big traditional Montenegrin family, where opinions are heard but no one denies the coach's final word - Vešović joked and added:
- I like that at Karabagh's matches in Europe, the fans of all local clubs support us without exception, we are respected and sometimes we have to give autographs and take photos for hours. They often call me Janković and my teammate Vešović, and that really makes us laugh, because apparently the same name bothers them - concluded Vešović.
The style of Prosinecki is tailored to the Montenegrin audience
Karabagh is the football pride of the East of the Old Continent, as it has been a regular participant in the group stages of European competitions for a decade. Montenegrin national team members Marko Vešović and Marko Janković deservedly enjoy the status of respect in and around the club. The screws in Gurbanov's team are important, and the calendar is busy.
- Already on Sunday, a game in the championship, and then on Monday we will travel to Antalya, where we will play friendly matches with Belarus and Macedonia as preparations for the League of Nations. A group with Wales, Turkey and Iceland suits us, as long as we are healthy and can play with everyone. It's good that some new players have made themselves known, they have deserved to be invited again and we are looking forward to the reunion. However, I would prefer that we gather in Podgorica, so that I can grab a few hours of relaxation and chatting with my friends. I miss that, because there are very few players from our region here now. It is true that Miodrag-Grof Božović and his associates are now leading Nefči, they will play in Europe, but they need to strengthen the team because we won them easily. Soon we will also play in the Cup - said Vešović.
For the first time, the selection of "falcons" will be led by Robert Prosinečki. Vešović is the only player in the national team who has experience working with him.
- I am of the opinion that his coaching characteristics and habits are something we really need. Our fans love a nice game, and when I played in Red Star, we had that with him, and it's impossible to notice his nervousness, he's calm and knows how to remove pressure from temperamental players, which we undoubtedly are in the national team. He also knows how to achieve results and we won the Serbian Cup in the years of absolute domination by Partizan, we played well. And we had an excellent relationship - recalls Vešović.
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