Korales: Muratović was my idol, because of him I started playing seriously

From the special reporter "Vijesti"

Although they will fight big battles in the "Tauron Arena" tomorrow, the representatives of Montenegro and Spain spent a long time hanging out in the lobby of the "Novotel" hotel today.

The link was the brothers Dujshebayev, Alex and Daniel, who speak, as they say, the Balkan language well, because they played in Skopje, and during their careers they were teammates with many ex-YU handball players.

Branko Vujović was with the sons of the famous Talant Dujšebajev in Kjelce for years, but that is not the only connection of the "Spanish" with Montenegro. Rodrigo Korales has a special relationship with our country, who, because of Alen Muratović, fell in love with handball even more and began to train it more seriously.

With a twinkle in his eyes, the Lions showed an unforgettable video from 2005, when Muratović in the Kangas jersey celebrated a goal against Altea by climbing onto the stand and raising his fists. The then 14-year-old Korales, who was born in that city in Galicia, was also in the audience.

"Allen was the best and most charismatic player of that team. We all admired him. Kangas is a small place, we all lived for the club that was in the Asobal League, and we lost one or two points to the famous Barcelona during Allen's time, and he scored eight or nine goals. It was unreal. I looked up to goalkeepers, but I loved him the most, the passion he showed. Because of him, I started playing handball more seriously," said Korales, who also told an anecdote from 2005.

"I was going to training with my friends and suddenly I saw a car with loud Balkan music coming from it. I turned and saw Alen, he just asked us if we were going to training and invited us with a smile to take us to the gym".

Muratović started his career in Sutjeska, then played for Budućnost and Lovćen, before moving to the town next to Vigo in 2003. After two seasons, he moved to Valladolid, in 2007 he missed the Champions League final thanks to a goal in the duels with Flensburg, and in 2008 the German club bought him for the then world record of 700.000 euros.

Unfortunately, in January 2009 he suffered a serious shoulder injury, which ended his career, but in 2013 he returned to the Kangas jersey and played until 2021, when he said goodbye for the second time. He returned to the field once again in the Atlético Novas jersey, played the second part of the 2021/2022 season. and finally hung up his sneakers at the age of 43.

Reporting made possible by Lob