There are players who can play for years on the same team and somehow the fans will not connect with them, but there are players who from their first second they capture the heart of the crowd.
Georgia Juvanovic, the great striker of Maccabi Tel Aviv, is one of those that the fans fell in love with from the first second he set foot in Kiryat Shalom.
The 23-year-old Jubanovic, who fulfilled a personal dream this week, which we will get to later, has not been interviewed by any Israeli media since signing with the Yellows in February for 1.9 million euros - making him the third most expensive purchase in the Yellows' history.
But now he's talking about everything in an exclusive interview with "Israel Today," and the yellow audience is going to enjoy what he has to say.
Arrived for a record amount, Photo: Ami Shumen
"My biggest moment so far at Maccabi Tel Aviv is without a doubt the goal I scored in the derby in the 93rd minute.
The goal in the first game against Kiryat Shmona was also nice, but this goal is different, "says the Serbian striker." Getting to Maccabi was the right decision for my career.
Before I came, I talked to Derko Oberdovich, who was Maccabi's fitness coach at Ivica, and he told me, 'Do not think twice, Maccabi is the team for you.'
I understood that Maccabi Tel Aviv is like Israel's Real Madrid, which is a league in which I will score a lot of goals, and I am glad that I came here. "
Is Maccabi Tel Aviv a transit station for you?
"I do not think about it at the moment, only about the success of Maccabi.
We finished in third place and we want to be much better.
"My goal is to bring a title to Maccabi Tel Aviv. Two years without a championship is too long for a team like Maccabi. We have a commitment to that, and we will do everything to bring the title back to our home."
Would you define the season as a failure?
"Finishing a season in third place and not winning any title is a big failure. I was not in the first half of the season, so I can not talk about this period, but if you take the second half of the season, I think we got the most points. We will need next season To know how to kill games, for example against Maccabi Haifa, which we led and got a draw in the 90th minute. Or against Beer Sheva, which we did not know how to keep the result. "
With Tal Ben Haim, Photo: Ami Shumen
Your biggest problem was the defense?
"It's true, but the defense does not just depend on the defensive players. When you attack, you start from the goalkeeper and reach the strikers, and the same thing when you make a defense - you start from the strikers to the defense. We got stupid goals. In the cup against BS we had a corner. And we got a goal.
Next year we will have to be much smarter. "
If Mladen Krestic had started the season, would you have been champions?
"Hard question. I do not think you can know what would have happened if he had come from the start. You can look at the table and see the results he achieved. Sometimes not everything on the coach's shoulders. We played well until the playoffs, I think we won seven games in a row, then in the playoffs A fall when we recorded a draw with Sakhnin, a draw with Netanya and a draw against Maccabi Haifa, and suddenly - a boom, within a week the whole story is over. "
There were a lot of reviews about his English, how much did it affect training?
"I do not think Krastic's English was a problem. You saw how he conducts press conferences. He understood everything in English, but he has some difficulty in saying things. That was also the case with us in training. I wish him success in the next team."
"This season is a failure,"
Two months after Yuvanovich arrived in Israel, the attack took place in Tel Aviv, in which three Israelis were killed and six others were injured.
This attack was part of a wave of terrorist attacks in 2022. The Serb does not hide that he had concerns, but for a moment he did not think about leaving.
"My wife and I were a little scared when we saw that there was a terrorist attack in Tel Aviv, but after three or four days we saw that life was returning to normal, so we are no longer afraid."
"The Israeli league is better than the Serbian league"
At Partizan Belgrade's academy he was marked along with Dusan Valahovic, a Juventus star, as one of the two future players of Serbian football.
But some bad decisions he made led him to less successful moves to Spain and Belgium, until he returned this season to Serbia and from there to Israel - and so the balls found the net again.
Georgia Juvanovic opens at the head of the Serbian team against Slovenia.
Big surprise.
Players like Tadic and Luka Jovic are waiting on the bench.
- Raz Amir (@ razamir29) June 5, 2022
There's some jealousy that Wallachovic came to Juventus and you did not?
"Absolutely not. I look at my way. Sometimes people progress faster and sometimes less, but if you believe in yourself, and work hard for your goals, you will eventually achieve them. I believe that in the future I too will reach clubs the size of Juventus. ".
Would you recommend young Israeli actors to leave for Europe early?
"No. Take an example from Serbia - about thirty players left it at a young age, like Valowicz who left at 16, and he was very successful. But if I look at all thirty, and I know a lot of them personally, when I include myself in this equation, the majority do not. Succeed big, maybe just a few.I think it's best to stay in your team at least until the age of 22-21, to be more mature and ready, before you leave for Europe.
And to Ahovich.
Not jealous of him,
When you're 18 you're just a kid.
When I went to Europe I got lost.
For Oscar Gluch, I would recommend staying at Maccabi Tel Aviv for a few years, but for Daniel Peretz, our goalkeeper, I would recommend going to Europe now. "
Which league is better - Serbian or Israeli?
"The Israeli league, for sure. The stadiums here are more developed, the grass here is much better, there are many more fans in all the games, there are many more teams that want to compete for the championship and Europe, so as a league you are a much better league. Some talents. "
Are you afraid of the possible arrival of Eran Zehavi?
"If Eran Zehavi comes to Maccabi Tel Aviv, it can only do us good.
Stifa and Fritza and I play in the same position, and if he was afraid when I arrived we could not play together, but we proved that we play great together.
"Zehavi has scored hundreds of goals in his career, everywhere he went he was very successful, and I have no doubt that Zehavi will make us all better."
"Zahavi succeeded everywhere", Photo: AP
Last Sunday Juvanovic started for the first time in the career of the Serbian national team, in a victory over Slovenia, leaving players like Luka Jovic and Dusan Tedic on the bench.
"Playing for the Serbian team is a dream come true for me," he says.
"As a child I dreamed of playing for the Belgrade partisan and the Serbian national team and I fulfilled those dreams. Now I have bigger dreams."
What's the next dream for you at Maccabi Tel Aviv?
"
And after two years, our fans deserve a championship. "
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