He was the Italian champion three times with Juventus, won the Italian Cup twice with Roma, and won the Super Cup three times with the "wolf" and the "Bianconeri".
Current Montenegrin coach Mirko Vučinić would trade all his trophies in the Apennines, where in his "prime" he was among the top 10 strikers in Europe, for a single place for the national team in a major competition.
It was very close once - the play-off against the Czech Republic, in 2011. The dreams of Montenegrin fans remained frozen in cold Prague, a 2-0 defeat in the first match was unattainable...
"I have previously told Italian journalists that I would trade all these titles I have achieved in Italy for that play-off match with the Czech Republic if we had won, where we had everything in our hands," Vučinić said in an interview for Meridiansport.
He also recalled his legendary debut for the national team - on March 27, 2007, against Hungary in a friendly match. It's been almost 19 years...
"When you see the number, it seems so far away, and it seems like it was yesterday - it was my debut as captain of the national team. And that equalizing goal is certainly one of my favorite in my career."
He also remembers when, as a 16-year-old, he left Sutjeska for Leće.
Pantaleo Corvino, the famous "talent hunter" from Lecce, came to Nikšić to watch him.
"We played a game with Zeta and I was the worst on the field. I know that, when the match was over, there was a conversation between Brano Mićunović, a man who helped me a lot, and Korvino, where Pantaleo said: 'We are buying him and we have just bought a diamond that we will process.' What he saw then, I really don't know. Later, in one of the conversations, he mentioned to me that he noticed an action in which I received the ball and knocked out two players with the first touch, and that he liked it. In Italy, everyone knows who Corvino is - he discovered many great names from Božinov, Ševanton to Vlahović...", says Vučinić.
Back to the present - one of the greatest football players Montenegro has ever had is now on the national team bench.
The Nations League in the fall is the next competitive obligation awaiting him.
He noted how important it is for players to give everything they have, how important the connection with the fans is, which they must win: through struggle, through results.
"Every fan is important. They are the ones who feel that when things are difficult and you are giving your all, they will give you maximum support. I have always made sure that I have a good relationship with them. As a national team, we do not have the luxury of sleeping for 20 minutes and then waking up. We simply have to bite the bullet from the start and take every match more than seriously because there are no easy opponents anymore."
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