Serbian water polo players turned to their next rivals at the European Championship, but the day after the match with Spain, the main topic was still the victory in an unforgettable match that changed the impression of Serbia’s play in the Arena.
Vasilije Martinović, Nikola Lukić and Petar Jakšić spoke with media representatives. Before the official part, Martinović received a congratulatory message for his 23rd birthday.
– The best gift for me and the whole team would be a medal. The victory against Spain is important for self-confidence, we are more relieved now. With Dušan Mandić’s exclusion, the most important thing is that we did not fall after that. On the contrary, we got up, played with even more energy. We do not deal with refereeing. Next is Israel – we have to play every match as seriously as possible. There is no euphoria, the real thing is just beginning. Training will help us maintain form and aggressiveness. This was a team victory, we played for each other in defense. We respected all agreements, stopped their best scorers. The audience gave us strength throughout the match, I believe that it will continue like this – said Martinović.
Nikola Lukić commented:
– Against the Netherlands we were out of energy. It was important to rise up and now we have taken one step towards the goal. It seems that we like the hard way. Next is an easier one with Israel, but we have to maintain the level of play and it will be a preparation for the second phase. There are no easy opponents, the Hungarians are our debtors from the World Cup. It will be harder without Mandić, but we will make up for his absence. I expect an even bigger crowd. When they made a turnaround, they helped us come back and win. It means a lot when you win a game like this.
Petar Jakšić emphasized the team’s unity:
– There was more tension with us. We knew we had to win and we did everything according to the agreement. We had a tactic to reduce Granados’ performance. We had more opportunities in attack even though Mandić was stopped. It didn’t matter to us when he was sent off. After that, it was what it was, in any case a match to remember. We looked like in Paris in the match with Greece, the finish was the same. Nikola scored in the last second. Let’s move on.
