Head Coach Paunovic: Return of Milinkovic-Savic Brothers to National Team Is a Big Deal, I Am Not Ready To Call Up Tadic

He also noted that he had spoken with former Serbia captain Dusan Tadic, but that he is not ready to call him up to the squad at this moment.

The Serbia national team will play Spain away in Villarreal in a friendly match on March 27, and will then host Saudi Arabia in Backa Topola four days later.

"I am looking forward to this event, as well as the entire training camp and the matches themselves against Spain and Saudi Arabia. There are no friendly matches. We are still assessing the condition of the players after this weekend. You saw that Luka Jovic had a head collision; we believe everything will be fine. In any case, we need to evaluate the situation once everyone is assembled. After that, there is a possibility that someone may be added to or removed from the squad. We included (Stefan) Bukinac in the senior team for that reason", Paunovic said.

He added that the matches against Spain and Saudi Arabia will provide valuable experience for the Serbia national team.

“It is good that we reacted in time and had a Plan B, that we communicated with UEFA and the respective national teams, so that if it was not possible to play in the originally scheduled venue in Doha, we would all be ready for these matches to take place. What matters for us is that we have the opportunity to play against teams such as Spain and Saudi Arabia. This combination is good,” the head coach stated.

He also explained what the return of players such as Vanja and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic brings to the team.

"The return of the Milinkovic-Savic brothers is, for me personally and professionally, an exceptional event and a pleasure, as I have the opportunity to work with both of them again – two outstanding individuals, personalities, and highly talented players, a midfielder and a goalkeeper. Their return is a major asset for Serbian football. It is also very important for our team spirit, given that both players are key figures in the dressing room", Paunovic said.

He emphasized that the Milinkovic-Savic brothers will be a major reinforcement for the Serbia national team.

Foto: Antonio Ahel/ATAImages

"They were warmly welcomed and are well-liked by their teammates; in this way, we have a stronger team and a stronger national side. I am very glad that we can count on all of them, and as you said, the competition is now stronger. That is exactly what we were aiming for –

to build a team with internal competition, because we must compete with the best in the world. Now we are facing one of the best teams in Europe", the Serbia head coach said.

Paunovic noted that he spoke with Dusan Tadic in November about a possible return to the national team, but that they have not spoken again since, and that he is currently not ready to invite him back.

"I spoke with Tadic in November. After that, I exchanged some information through his agent, but I have not had another conversation with him directly. Personally, I am not ready to have that conversation with Tadic at this moment – at least I haven’t been so far. We have not moved from the position we were in before. Is there a possibility we will talk in the future? I am open to it, but specifically regarding a call-up to the national team, I was not ready and have not resumed those discussions", Paunovic said.

"Spain a good test"

Paunovic stressed that Spain will be a strong test ahead of the Nations League matches against the Netherlands and Germany.

"We are playing in a strong Nations League group. In terms of technical and tactical style, both the Netherlands and Germany share many similarities with Spain, so this will be a good test in that respect. On the other hand, they differ physically and morphologically, but in technical and tactical terms, these are teams that dominate, play exceptional football at a high level, and consistently threaten the goal. Spain is a good opponent for us to test ourselves ahead of the Nations League, and also before the matches scheduled for June, including one against Mexico, while we are still waiting to confirm the opponent a few days later", Paunovic concluded.

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