Lazio midfielder Sergej Milinkovic-Savic highlighted his desire to continue growing and improving today.
Speaking in an interview with FIFA yesterday, the 26-year-old Serbian midfielder first spoke about his incredibly athletic family. His brother Vanja is a goalkeeper playing for Torino.
Yes, that’s true. Our mum played basketball, our dad played football, so we were destined to do sport, although we were not pressured into it and we had the freedom to decide for ourselves what we wanted to do.
This meant a lot to us, because we already felt inclined to take up sports in our family, so it was easier for us to choose our own destiny.
The Lazio midfielder spoke about his footballing heroes growing up.
Growing up, there were a lot of good players, so naturally I watched all of them, but if I had to choose I’d say Ibrahimovic and I closely watched Zidane because I started out in that position.
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Milinkovic-Savic commented on how important it was for him to go to the 2018 World Cup with Serbia.
It was a big deal for me, especially because prior to that I had hardly featured for the national team.
Then the opportunity arose to play at that massive competition, the World Cup, my first one.
I will remember it forever because I was pretty young and the other players had a lot of experience, which definitely helped me to improve and develop my career.
He touched on the strengths of this Serbia team and if they’re better than the team that competed in the 2018 World Cup.
I was really young when I played my first World Cup and now I’m a couple of years older, so I think the current team is better than the one that went to the last World Cup.
So I’m hopeful that we’ll qualify for the World Cup again, just like in 2018, considering we have a better team now.
The 26-year-old Serbian midfielder tried to describe himself as a player.
That’s the worst question you could ask me because I don’t like to talk about myself! Naturally, there are many people who are happy to do that.
The important thing for me is to give everything I have in every game and every training session and try to improve where I can.
I’m not entirely sure what needs improving, but there are people who can point it out and help me improve my form. I strive to play each game as best as I can and to be better than before.
Milinkovic-Savic discussed the strengths of Fiorentina forward Dusan Vlahovic, who has exploded onto the scene this year.
Good? He’s not good, he’s outstanding. I’m quite certain the stats would back that up, considering his age.
However, I think he’s the type of player who still gets annoyed when he doesn’t play well, so he’s definitely going to get better and get the world talking about him, which is something I like about him.
In both training and matches, he never takes it lightly when he misses a chance, so he has a hunger for scoring goals and winning.
I like how he wants to prove himself, so I think he’s bound to become one of the greats.
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He commented on the strengths of Serbia’s opponent this evening Portugal.
Well, just like everyone else, I think that they’re one of the best national teams in the world. I don’t think I need to talk about them; everything’s pretty clear and obvious when it comes to them.
I also know what we can achieve in Portugal. Like I said, I think our national team is better now than the one we sent to the last World Cup, so I think everyone knows we’re going for the win.
We all know what is required of us, so we cannot wait for Sunday’s match.
Finally, Milinkovic-Savic gave his thoughts on Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo.
He’s one of the best players in the world. I have experience playing against him from the two seasons he was at Juventus, so I think this will make things easier for us.
I know how to play against him and I believe that will help a lot.
The 26-year-old Milinkovic-Savic has scored three goals and provided four assists in 12 Serie A appearances so far this season.
