Olimpija’s coach Zoran Zeljković after historic conference league win: ‘We deserved it! And as long as there is hope, we will not give up…”
Photo: Nik Moder / Sportida
Joao Henriques made history as the coach who Olimpija was the first to lead Olimpija to the group stage of a European Cup. Zoran Zeljković will go down in history as the coach who led the Dragons to their first ever victory in a European Cup group stage. Under his leadership, the Dragons beat Klaksvik on Thursday night in a dramatic but deserved victory.
The visitors from the Faroe Islands sold their skin dearly in Stožice, fought hard and were on the verge of a draw with one man down. But in the last 10 minutes of the game, Olimpija just managed to shake off the sturdy northerners. V 84. David Sualehe scored for 1:0 four minutes later, and Mustafa Nukić sealed the victory four minutes after that. Two substitutes, two goals. And a historic victory.
“Despite the fact that we played with a man down in the last half an hour, it must be stressed that we were the better opponent throughout the game and deserved to win,“, said Zoran Zeljković after the game in front of the camera of Kanal A TV station, who believed that his team was capable of beating the team that had beaten the Dragons in the Third Circle smashed at home with by a score of 3:0.
Zeljković: “We can surprise everyone”
“We knew we had to stay calm. We’ve been preparing all week for the… I was sure we would have our chances. We had a few, and thank God we ended up using two of them,” the proverbially calm Ljubljana resident, who managed to do something else with his victory, did not hide his satisfaction: Olimpija is still in the playoffs!
Before the matches with Lill at home and Slovan away, the second-placed team is four points behind second place and five behind first place.“As long as there is hope, we will not give up,” the former Koper coach stressed, adding: “We are Olimpija after all… Now, of course, we are already looking to the championship, but in Europe we will believe until the end that we can surprise everyone.”
Olimpija’s next European match will be on 30 November, when they will play against French top-flight side Lille in Stožice. The match will start at 18:45.
This text was automatically translated using AI.
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