Sesko and Vlahovic, face to face in the Balkan derby

EFE
DÜSSELDORF

06/20/2024 at 07:01

CEST

Serbia defeated on the first day by England (0-1) and Slovenia tied by Denmark (1-1), The second date of group C of Euro 2024 not only pits two teams against each other in a crucial match for progress to the round of 16, but also Benjamin Sesko against Dusan Vlahovic, the offensive present and future of both teams.

In Serbia he plays Vlahovic. 24 years. Juventus attacker. He scored thirteen goals in 28 games with his national team, with which he debuted on October 11, 2020, at the age of 20. He has scored 18 goals this season for the Italian team in 38 games, 30 of them as a starter, but he has only scored one goal in his last ten games. His market value is 79.4 million euros, following his previous impact at Fiorentina.

In the Slovenia attack it shines sesko. 21 years. Leipzig forward, who paid 24 million euros to Salzburg a year ago for his transfer. The passage of so many others between two Red Bull clubs. Dominik Szoboszlai followed that path, today at Liverpoool, for example. He has also scored 18 goals this season in 42 games, 22 as a starter, already at Leipzig. The previous one, still in Austria, he scored another 18 goals in 41 games.

He wants more. His streak suggests him for this, with eight goals in the last thirteen meetings between his club and his national team, with which he debuted at just 18 years old, on June 10, 2021, and with which he has scored 11 goals and has given six assists in 30 caps. His market value is slightly lower than Vlahovic’s at present: 70.1 million euros.

OVERCOME BARRIERS, THE GOAL

This scale is descriptive to express the even greater projection that is expected from the two players, dimensioned towards the first European Championship of their career, without both facing each other even once in a match. Nor has Vlahovic ever faced Jan Oblak, the captain who will defend the Slovenia team. before him and Alexander Mitrovic, whose first year in Saudi Arabia has generated 40 goals for Al Hilal.

The Atlético de Madrid goalkeeper has made 66 international appearances, with 55 goals against and, above all, thirty clean sheets. Only one, in any case, corresponds to the seven most recent duels, in the 2-0 victory against Portugal in a friendly in March. Slovenia has never won a match in the European Championship. He still longs for it.

Doing so will immediately overcome two barriers. The first, the aforementioned victory (they have drawn three games and lost one of their previous four, between the current edition and its previous participation in 2000). The second, even more important, the group stage, from which they have never advanced in a major competition. Neither in two World Cups nor in a European Championship.

To Sesko, meanwhilePedrag Rajkovic, the goalkeeper of Mallorca and Serbia, will challenge him, with 33 games already and 28 goals against.to. He kept the Slovenian striker clean in his two previous matches, both in a 4-1 victory and in a 2-2 draw, both in June 2022. He needs to do it again.

It seems a key condition this Thursday. Because Serbia is on the ropes. The defeat against England relegated them to last place in the group on the first day with zero points. You still have time. If they lose to Slovenia, no. It will be his almost certain elimination from the continental competition, in which he distantly remembers the times in which he was the main protagonist of the European championships.

Jude Bellingham’s 0-1 has hit Serbia. Dusan Tadic’s statements sparked controversy. “I am the leader and captain of this team. I am the best player on this team. He should have played the full 90 minutes. It would have been different if he had been on the pitch from the beginning,” he criticized his coach, Dragan Stojkovic, to whom he later apologized.

“A meeting was held at the ‘Maximilian’ hotel in Augsburg between the coaching staff, headed by coach Dragan Stojkovic, and the members of the national team. Future obligations were discussed and, among other things, the captain of the national team, Dusan Tadic took the opportunity to apologize to coach Stojkovic and his teammates for their reckless statements after the match against England,” the Serbian Football Federation announced this Wednesday in an official statement.

Meanwhile, he has lost Filip Kostic, out of the Euro 2024 due to a muscle injury suffered in the first match against England.

In the only precedent Between them in the Euro Cup, in 2000, Slovenia beat Yugoslavia 0-3, with two goals from Zlatko Zahovic and one from Pavlin, within the first 57 minutes, but their rival reacted in an incredible and unexpected way, also outnumbered due to the expulsion of Sinisa Mihajlovic. They tied it at three, with two goals from Savo Milosevic and one from Drulovic in a space of six minutes, from 67 to 73.