Mihajlović harshly criticizes Serbia national team after loss to Germany: ‘We look like amateurs, the federation people destroyed everything’

Last night in Munich, Germany beat Serbia 2-0 in the Nations League, with a goal from Florian Wirtz — Jürgen Klopp’s first win as coach of the German national team. The loss was Serbia’s third in a row in League A of the Nations League, after defeats to Greece and the Netherlands, as the Serbian newspaper Danas writes.

In an interview for Danas, 61-year-old former striker Radmilo Mihajlović — who played for Željezničar, Dinamo Zagreb, Yugoslavia, Bayern Munich and Schalke — sharply criticized the Serbia national team: “Izgledamo kao amateri, ljudi iz Saveza su uništili sve jer dovode poslušnike” (“We look like amateurs; the people at the federation destroyed everything because they bring in obedient people”).

According to Mihajlović, Serbia played “slowly and cowardly” from defence, has no fast players who can settle a match individually, while Luka Jović has an eye for goal but is not a player for a defensive team. The only bright spot, according to him, is Strahinja Pavlović, who “igra moderan fudbal” (“plays modern football”). Mihajlović also hits out at the federation’s leaders: real players and coaches have been driven away, while television analysts have never played at a high level.

The former striker calls for a new concept: bring the old players back into the team, offer them coaching licences and start from scratch. He stresses that even North Macedonia is now better than Serbia, whereas the Serbian national team was once a class above teams such as Turkey, Greece, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czechs, Switzerland and Norway, Danas’ reporting concludes.