The great victory over Serbia on the farewell from the European Championship (30:29), with which the Montenegrin handball players won a place in the 1st hat in the play-off for the World Championship, was assisted by Nikola Matović.
The goalkeeper of Swedish Ama had to replace Nebojša Simić in the 34th minute, who received a red card because he tried to stop the rival's counterattack, but collided with Dragan Pešmalbek.
The only man from Podgorica in the national team had several great messages after the match.
"The game was of high intensity all the time, I'm sorry that we had to send out our comrades and friends. "For us, Montenegro comes first and we love our country, we showed that tonight," said the 25-year-old goalkeeper.
It was not easy to step into Simić's "shoes", who followed all the defenses of his colleague from the stands, but he succeeded.
"Nebojša had a phenomenal tournament, maybe he was the best goalkeeper of all. I'm there to support, but an unfortunate set of circumstances has led me to defend. As for the main stage, everything could have been different, but that's sport. Sometimes it goes to one side, sometimes to the other. I'm sorry that we didn't pass, one ball was decisive, but this will mean us for future matches and tournaments", said Matović.
Vuk Lazović played phenomenally in defense, blocking Serbia's lead at the beginning of the last minute.
"We gave everything tonight, it finally came back to us after two unfortunate games. That's the sport, let's move on. We have a barrage for the World Championship waiting for us, we want to go to the big competition again".
Luka Radović was one of the tragic ones against Iceland, as he was sent off 88 seconds before the end due to a wrong substitution. He redeemed himself tonight and showed once again that the future is for the "lions".
"This is one of the most beautiful feelings. Unfortunately, we are going home, because we were unlucky, but it all came back to us tonight. I believe that he will return to us in the playoffs and that we will play much better at the World Cup".
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