Serbia under pressure against Albania, Stojković announces list

The regional clash and "high-voltage" match will be played on October 11th in Leskovac - Serbia vs. Albania.

Belgrade authorities have decided that the crucial match for second place in the group and a place in the World Cup play-offs will be played in a stadium with a capacity of only eight thousand seats, which will be further reduced by 20 percent due to UEFA's penalty.

In the last match against England in Belgrade (0:5), the audience demanded the resignation of Serbia coach Dragan Stojković Pixi, and chanted against Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, and even a fight broke out in the stands. That's why the penalty was imposed...

Is this the reason why such an important match is not being played at Marakana, but at a stadium with almost eight times smaller capacity, or something else? Serbia must not lose if it wants to hope to qualify for the World Cup play-offs.

Serbia's advantage over its next rival is that Albania made one mistake - they drew in Latvia, and therefore they must go for a win in Leskovac.

England is undisputed in that group.

Albania and Serbia played out a 0-0 draw in Tirana in June.

Stojković's list includes: Goalkeepers: Vanja Milinković-Savić (Napoli), Predrag Rajković (Al Ittihad), Đorđe Petrović (Bournemouth) and Dragan Rosić (Vojvodina).

Defensive players: Nikola Milenković (Nottingham Forest), Strahinja Pavlović (Milan), Miloš Veljković (Red Star), Strahinja Eraković (Zenit St. Petersburg), Jan-Karlo Simić (Al Ittihad) and Veljko Milosavljević (Bournemouth). Midfield players: Sasa Lukic (Fulham), Nemanja Gudelj (Sevilla), Nemanja Maksimovic (Shabab Al Ahli), Andrija Zivkovic (PAOK), Lazar Samardzic (Atalanta), Filip Kostic (Juventus), Stefan Mitrovic (Excelsior), Aleksandar Stankovic (Club Brugge), Ognjen Ugresic (Partizan) and Dejan Zukic (Wolfsberger).

Attackers: Aleksandar Mitrović (Al Rajan), Dušan Vlahović (Juventus), Luka Jović (AEK Athens) and Andrej Ilić (Union Berlin). The Serbian national team will gather on Monday, October 6, at the Sports Center of the Football Association of Serbia (FSS) in Stara Pazova. After four matches played so far in the qualification phase, the Serbian national team is third in the Group K table with seven points. All other national teams in Group K have played five matches each. England is first with 15 points, Albania is second with eight points, Latvia is fourth with four points, while Andorra occupies the last, fifth place without a point won.