Aleksandar Mitrovic recalled his time at Anderlecht, the match against Portugal and touched on his brilliant career at Fulham.
The Serbian striker became a favorite of Fulham, as he spent five seasons at “Craven Cottage” and scored more than 100 goals for that club.
– If someone had told me that before, I would have told him that he was crazy. You see: if you believe in yourself… I felt a good connection with my teammates and Fulham fans from the first day – says Mitrovic.
Last season specifically, he hit the net 43 times in the Championship and broke the record from 1993 for the number of goals in the second tier of the competition on the Island.
– When the games go one after the other, the confidence is there and your teammates serve you well, it passes quickly. I don’t play football to break records. When I get older it will be nice to check on Google how many goals I have scored, but now I make a lot of sacrifices myself. I don’t want to regret anything later – explains the Serbian goal machine.
He continued in the Premier League where he left off in the Championship and already has six goals in the English top flight. Journalists compared him to the legendary Alan Shearer.
– No no. There is only one Alan Shearer. I moved on a different path, and had to overcome other obstacles. Do you remember how much criticism I suffered at Anderlecht? It is also part of life as a striker – Mitrovic said.
In Belgium, he had the epithet “naughty boy”, which was primarily related to the way he celebrated goals, with his tongue between his fingers, as if he wanted to symbolically cut off the tongues of critics.
– Now I think before I say or do anything. I am more in control of my emotions, but I remain impulsive. Last season in the Championship I received ten yellow cards. I am the winner – Mitrovic is confident
Mitrović recalled the derby matches with Club Brugge, where he was sent off twice.
– Yes, especially that second time in the playoffs was a disaster, wasn’t it? I was sent off before the end of the first half and I have rarely felt so bad. I thought my sending-off would cost us the title, but with five minutes to go, we won thanks to an own goal from Meunier. It’s one of the best moments of my career. After that, we won every match and won the title against Lokeren. One day I would even like to play for Anderlecht again. Belgium has become my second homeland. By the way, the dream scenario is the World Cup final between Serbia and Belgium in Qatar. Imagine – said Mitar with a smile.
ZMitrović scored for the national team for the 50th time against Norway in the final round of the UEFA Nations League, thus reaching that mark faster than Lionel Messi with Argentina or Cristiano Ronaldo with Portugal.
– First, I missed the decisive penalty against Scotland, which prevented Serbia from going to the European Championship. Terrible! A year later I scored the winning goal against Portugal and that’s how we went to the World Cup. It’s the best moment of my career. Especially since I injured my hamstring a few days earlier and the doctor told me I couldn’t play. I was stubborn and still went out on the field – finished Aleksandar Mitrovic.
