The young Montenegrin national football team lost to Italy last night in heavy rain and on a difficult pitch in Nikšić 4:1, leaving them without a theoretical chance to hope for a miracle and a place at the European Championship.
It wasn't realistic even before the match, because in addition to strong Italy, there is also Poland, which dominates the group, but Goran Perišić's men significantly raised the bar and expectations with victories against Sweden and Macedonia, and even Armenia away.
The "Azure", however, have shown that they are stronger, with players some of whom are standard players in Serie A clubs.
"We played well in the first half, unfortunately, we didn't manage to end it with the lead, but we conceded a goal after a corner kick. We were helpless in the second half, possibly due to the poor pitch, but Italy also showed great individual quality. That was reflected in the result," said Perišić.
Montenegro took the lead with a brilliant goal by Balša Mrvaljević, the Italians quickly equalized, and then scored three more goals.
"Simply put, we came up against a stronger opponent, and it's up to us now to work hard and wait for March as prepared as possible. Then we'll have two tough games, I hope that in those and other matches we'll win as many points as possible by the end of the qualifiers," said Perišić.
Montenegro will visit Sweden in March next year and welcome Poland.
Bonus video:
