In 1999, the Madrid signed to Perica Ognjenovic (Smederevska Palanka, 43 years old). Nicknamed ‘The Atom’ for its speed and height (1.71 meters), was the jewel of the Red Star, but it remained in a flash: played only 12 games and left after two years. It went from illusion to being singled out as one of the worst hires Real Madrid. The Serbian, who started his technical career in 2011, attends AS to talk about his white stage and, incidentally, defend himself …
Where is it located The atom?
I am now in Belgrade due to the coronavirus. But two months ago I signed as a coach for a Bosnian team, the Zvijezda 09. I arrived just when the break. I did five workouts and then everything was suspended. In 2011 I started my career as a coach with the Red Star Under-19 team, where we were successful, and from there I went to the U-17 in Serbia. I took the team to the European and for a minute we did not enter the round of 16. We conceded a goal at the last minute …
Who gave him that nickname?
It was in Spain when I signed for Madrid. I don’t know exactly who put it on, but I started reading it, it wasn’t bad (laughs). I guess they nicknamed me that because of my playing style and my physique. I was a short right winger, fast in the race, who used to do sprints …
How was your first contact with football?
My father was a soccer player. But not on a serious level. It was a ’10’ and there I started to get hooked. I played on the street and when I was old I started in the Smederevska Palanka team, which is my city.
What was the Smederevska Palanka like in the eighties?
It was a very quiet place, with around 30,000 inhabitants. Life was simple. Home, school … There I met my girlfriend and now she is my wife. And the football. The team was Mladost-Gosa, from Tercera. It is a club that treats young people very well, with a great school. There they selected me to play in the inferior teams of Yugoslavia: a selection of the league, the Sub-16… And it was in those matches with the selection that the Red Star saw me and signed me.
When did you get to the Red Star?
Well, three years after they won the European Cup (1991). The coach, who was Ljupko Petrovic, noticed me. I was only 16 years old but he immediately placed me to play with the older ones.
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Tell me about that team …
He looked to the side and had Darko Kovacevic, who played for Real; Petkovic, who went to Madrid; They leave Stankovic, from Mallorca; Djorovic, who would later be at Celta … A great team.
Who was the ‘capo’ in that locker room?
Well, everyone was great there in that locker room. As a young man and a newcomer, I only trained and trained.
Were those workouts tough?
Very hard. Petrovic’s style was very strong, all very physical. There were weeks that we trained twice a day. I can only tell you one thing: I survived.
He got off to a good start at Estrella Roja and then came a downturn. Got distracted?
I have read that, they said that if reaching a team that big distracted me … It was nothing like that. They are rumors. I was always very professional, I trained very hard. I never had problems with my life or attitude problems. What happened is that he had been in the first team for some time and some people had doubts about whether he would reach a higher level. And then Kosanovic came to the bench and it was the turning point.
Why?
He always made me a starter. Kosanovic was a more ‘Spanish’ coach, let’s say. He trained the physicist once a week and then a lot of the ball. With him I started to play very well and to be called up regularly with the selection of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia until being in the World Cup in France. It was a great event in the country.
A country in need of joys due to the political conflicts in Yugoslavia.
It affected a lot, also soccer. That was one of the problems of my generation, the political conflict. It was a mess for footballers in Serbia, we had to have a type of visa, you had to make a huge effort if you were out of the country to get your relatives out and take them away. Everything was very closed. The fans, who had had a very bad time in the country, had high hopes for that 1998 World Cup but we fell in the eighths with the Netherlands (2-1). In that summer, Madrid already tried to sign me.
And why was it not closed then and made in the winter market?
With Madrid I already had the first contact two years before my signing. I already knew there was interest. They followed me for a long time how I played and they wanted to close everything in the summer of 1998. But they did not reach an economic agreement with the Red Star. They made an important offer, but in the end it closed in January.
“Madrid wanted to sign me after the 1998 World Cup, they had been following me for two years, but there was no agreement”
Ognjenovic
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For a fortune back then, 400 million pesetas (2.5 million euros) …
I do not remember it well, the truth. I arrived in the last days of the market, I went to the stadium, I met the people of Madrid, I was with President Sanz. We signed everything, we gave a press conference … It was an impressive situation. It was all very emotional. I was only 21 years old
It went from being one of the references of the Red Star to an almost unknown in Madrid. How did the change take place?
The political situation in Yugoslavia was very complicated. It was impossible for people to see the championship of my country or international championships. I expected something like that, that they didn’t know me. Madrid is huge and a young boy, recently arrived from Serbia, cannot have the same recognition as Roberto Carlos, Hierro or Mijatovic… It was my dream. I was not afraid, I had nothing.
Madrid had won the Seventh months before, but you arrived at a distracted team. What wardrobe was found?
Sanchís, Hierro, Redondo, Raúl, Mijatovic, Suker, Jarni… They were all great companions, it didn’t feel like there was a boss. Hierro and Raúl in their own way, Roberto Carlos, Pedja… They were all great soccer players. I was well received. Obviously, when you have a countryman like Mijatovic there, it helps a lot in the adaptation. Although it was not the only one.
Who was your other support?
In the first months Radomir Antic and his family helped me a lot, to whom I want to send my condolences for his loss. Many times we went to Radomir’s house. There in Madrid my two daughters were born and they helped me a lot.
Mijatovic was Ognjenovic’s great support when he arrived at Real Madrid.
What was your biggest obstacle to adjusting? Language?
No, the worst was a back injury. I learned the language quickly, in seven or eight months I already spoke Spanish. For me that was very good. People, super. The quality of life in Madrid, exceptional. Everything was fine, except for that back injury I suffered shortly after I started training there. When you start bad you have a bitter taste in your mouth. I really wanted to play and play and play. That was the great obstacle.
A few weeks after arriving in Madrid, the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia took place …
Thank God, I was already in Spain, but of course it affected me emotionally. It was in March, everything was closed. The first days of the bombings I tried to bring my brother to Madrid, it was difficult to get someone from your family out of the country. For all Serbs it was very difficult. You think what will happen to your parents, with everything. That also affected me, of course. And the changes. When I arrived there was Hiddink as coach. Then you know what Madrid is like. The situation changes rapidly. And Toshack arrives …
What happened to Toshack?
I didn’t have a relationship with him… The foreigners he wanted came and I was young and injured. I wanted to show him that he could play. But no. I respected your decision. I had far fewer options to play. You know what Toshack is like. It is a little closed. It wasn’t bad on me, but it didn’t give me opportunities. Only a few minutes when he was leaving Madrid. Then Del Bosque came and changed everything.
How?
Del Bosque gave me more minutes. With him there was a good deal and the situation changed. I trained very well, everyone saw it, and it gave me opportunities. Until another injury came. He played quite well. Ok, he was not always a starter, but I played with him 45 minutes, 30 minutes, I was even a starter sometimes that year in which he won the Champions League. In that Champions League, he took me against Bayern and United … The reviews were good. I played little, but what I played helped a lot. Del Bosque had a special character. Then came the change of president, with other plans …
<figure id = "summary_4 | photo" onclick = "javascript: wideFoto (this, '/futbol/imagenes/2020/05/12/primera/1589303364_944712_1589304478_sumario_grande.jpg', '976', '725', 'Del Bosque, with Ognjenovic. / JESUS AGUILERA ‘); return false; “class =” item-multimedia “> Del Bosque, with Ognjenovic. And with Figo … Figo was playing in my position, it was very clear that there would be no place for me. It was Valdano who spoke to me, but nobody had to tell me anything. You feel like you have to change. He left through the back door, with a complaint to the club included … Nothing, that was a contract mess, but in the end I went according to the Kaiserslautern. I wanted to change and I went outside of Spain. There was no point playing in Spain on another team. Did you ever feel anxiety? Honestly not. I lived in Madrid quite well, my two girls were born, life was very good. My main problem was injuries. When a footballer has injury problems and can’t play, he doesn’t feel good. It was the only problem. Many people ask me if I regret having signed for Madrid because I could have had another career. Look, I always wanted to follow my dreams. From a small town in Serbia I went to the Red Star. That was already a success. Then comes the offer from the biggest club in Europe. I always followed my dreams and wanted to do something in Madrid. Everything could have gone better without those injuries. That could have happened to me at any club, at Fiorentina, at Barça, anywhere in the world. You never know. Does it hurt to see yourself ‘marked’ as one of the worst signings of Madrid? I don’t pay much attention to that. Because those who do this do not know how he played. They can look at statistics, see how many games I played, how many I didn’t and get down to doing that. But people who don’t know how he played do it. Do you want to defend yourself? I have one thing clear: when they gave me opportunities, I helped the team. I don’t remember bad games of mine in Madrid. Now, because of the injury, what can you do? For me those lists that they make, with statistics and such, is a thing of amateurism. ¿Amateurism? Yes, from people who are not professional. First they have to watch a game to see how it really played. For example, with Del Bosque I think that in the first three games I gave four assists and scored a goal. When I entered the game many times the dynamics changed. Against Mallorca I entered 0-1 below and we won 2-1, against Athletic I attended Morientes twice, against Zaragoza I also gave a goal pass … I was not that bad. The problem is that he did not play a number of games in a row. I don’t remember anyone criticizing me for my game. I played little, yes, but criticism for bad game? I think I didn’t have many … Sometimes it hurts when I see those lists.
– Do you think you were unlucky? Look, when I left Madrid I went to the Kaiserslautern and just arrived in Germany and in the first Cup match I injured my heel: again I was standing for about three months. Then I went to China, Ukraine, Greece … I did not play like Red Star again. I was very unlucky. Now I started my career as a coach because maybe some things that I did not become in football as a player I can do as a coach. He said he trained in the lower Serbia. Do you know Jovic? Of course I know him, but I didn’t have him with me. Jovic is from another generation. He is a very talented player, he had a good season in Germany, he scored many goals. He arrived in Madrid with great desire and everyone sees that. It has a lot of quality. He signed for 60 million, is a forward and has only had two goals, returned to Madrid after spending two months in Serbia and was injured … I want to be very simple. Now he has to give everything he can, it has quality and that is visible and noticeable. What happens is that everything depends on many factors, such as injuries. Madrid is a club that always wants the most and many times it can be very cruel with many footballers because if someone does not give something, another comes. That happens in great teams. That demand took you ahead. Are you afraid that the same will happen to Jovic? I think something similar is not going to happen to me. It started almost the same as me, with injuries. Only it won’t be as complicated for him as it is for me. This injury will heal and everything will turn out much better for him than for me. I dont know. Honestly, until the end of my career I had problems with that injury. I never played a season similar to that of the Red Star. My style was sprinting and with back problems is the worst because you don’t know when it will arrive. You feel good, you run and suddenly it comes. When you have a calf or knee problem you know you have to take care of that, but in the back it is complicated. I would give you some advice. Which? That he only thinks about soccer, that he concentrates on each training session, that he does not get nervous if the goals do not come because they are going to come, I am sure. Only concentration in training, in games and nothing else. Because when you are in Madrid there will always be criticism, people who speak well and badly of you. I wish you good luck. And that you don’t have the same problems as me … –
JESUS AGUILERA
“It hurts me to see myself on those lists of the worst signings of Madrid, but that is amateurism; they did not see me play”
Ognjenovic
