From 2005 to the present, Croatian football has had only two champions - Dinamo 18 times and Rijeka once.
It was 2017, those were the days of a great festival on the Adriatic coast, and Montenegrin Marko Vešović was also part of Rijeka's history.
The "Falcon" defender currently plays for Qarabag, the best team in Azerbaijan, but the team from Rujevica is still in his heart, and now he believes that the time has come for another Montenegrin to bring the title to Rijeka.
"Radomir Đalović is like me. He says what he thinks, and does what he says. That's how he was as a player, that's how he is now as a coach. And he carries Rijeka in his heart as a part of himself, forever. The players feel that, the fans feel that. And to top it all off, the man is a very young coach, but he obviously knows his job very well," Vešović told Novi list.
Đalović also wore the Rijeka jersey, he was not a champion, but now he is on a great path to becoming one as a coach - after 26 rounds, the team from the Adriatic has two points more than Hajduk, and five more than Dinamo.
"It's Rijeka and they're first and they're going for both trophies. There's no other way of thinking than everyone as one, the team, the coaching staff, the management and the fans. And the best players are the ones who are now at Rujevica," Vešović has no dilemma.
The Montenegrin footballer continued in the same tone when it came to Đalović.
"Dalovic's coaching style is visible in his team's play. His idea, what goes from training and drawing on the board, becomes a concrete work on the field. And when the team plays the way Đale played, full of energy, disciplined and motivated, so motivated that it couldn't be more motivated, then anything is possible. Even a title or maybe even a double crown. He lives and feels Rijeka, it's a part of him," Vešović emphasized.
Novi List writes that there is some secret connection between Rijeka and Montenegro.
"From the inimitable goalscorer Kulet - the 'flying fortress' Miodrag Kustudić, through Marko's late father Rade Vešović, Radomir Đalović as a player, and then Marko himself, and then his teammate in the current A national team of Montenegro, Andrija Vukčević, and member of the U-21 selection, Nikola Medojević, to Đalović as a head of the profession," the media outlet reports.
We're not a big country, but every generation has a world-class player.
And, they reached Vešović while he was in Podgorica preparing for the Montenegrin national team ahead of the start of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
"Yes, in Podgorica with, with the national team. Yes, yes, under coach Robert Prosinečki," Vešović emphasized that the "falcons" are led by a legend of Croatian football.
A small country, but something like Croatia. A sports phenomenon, the author of the text pointed out.
"We are. There are not many of us, nor are we a large country, but sport is somehow in the blood of this people. There is no generation without at least one world-class player. We were European champions and second in the world in water polo, women's handball also European champions and Olympic silver, the women's handball team of Buducnost won the Champions League... There is a lot of that," explained Vešović.
Croatia or France? Who will be Montenegro's rival?
The quarter-final duel of the Nations League begins tonight, the big match is played in Split between Croatia and France - whichever of the last two world vice-champions is eliminated will end up in the World Cup qualifying group that Montenegro is in.
"Yes, if France wins, we have the Croatia - Montenegro match waiting for us. We now have World Cup qualifications, two easier matches, Gibraltar and the Faroe Islands. I want Croatia to get past the French, and for you to write every day until the end of the season that Rijeka is first and then at the end that Rijeka is the champion," concluded Vešović.
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