Perhaps at the moment he skipped the Buducnost youth team, it wasn't entirely clear how strong Trabzonspor was, but the following matches showed that the talented generation of the "blue and whites" had run into one of the toughest rivals in the Youth Champions League.
The Turkish team won against the Montenegrin champions in the third round of qualifying, and then taught lessons to Sarajevo, then to Italian clubs - Juventus, Atalanta and finally Inter, for a place in the semi-finals of the strongest UEFA competition for this age group.
The final result against Buducnost (8:3 on aggregate) probably looks like routine work for the young man from the Black Sea, but it is clear that the "blue and white" had their chances even then, they took the lead in both matches, and the question is how it would have ended if the club had had more feeling for this important competition.
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Before the first match in Turkey, coach Ivan Brnović assessed that Andrija Bulatović and Lazar Savović, two great talents, were more needed by the first team against Bokolj, so the day before the return match against second-tier Igalo in the Cup, he sent five of them onto the field - along with Bulatović and Savović, Andrej Kostić and Bodin Tomašević, while Stefan Đukanović came on in the second half.
Four of them played 55 minutes a day later against Trabzon, after Buducnost was great in the first half and quickly conceded two goals at the start of the second half.
Even today it is difficult to find logic for such decisions.
The rematch with Trabzon was watched by 3.000 fans from the stands of the stadium under Gorica, and if Buducnost had been complete - who knows, maybe Juventus, Atalanta and Inter would have filled our largest stadium later, instead of the arena named after Şenol Güneş.
Only one match was played since the knockout stage, Trabzon was always the host and knew how to take advantage of it.
Now it faces the final, practically a final four in Nyon - first against RB Salzburg in the semi-finals. The second semi-final will be completed by the winners of today's matches between AZ Alkmaar and Manchester City, and Stuttgart and Barcelona.
Bonus video:
