Shakhtar Donetsk coach Igor Jovićević says he’s optimistic his team can cause a major upset against Real Madrid in today’s Champions League clash.
Recall that Shakhtar will host the tie tonight in Warsaw, Poland and not in Ukraine due to the ongoing Russia invasion.
However, in an interview with TribalFootball, Jovićević stated that he’s confident his team can beat Real Madrid.
Jovićević said: “In football anything can happen but if you play this match 10 times, Real will win 9. We need our best night.
Read Also: Arsenal Will Challenge Man City For EPL Title –Owen
“We know that teams weaker than Shakhtar have beaten Real Madrid, so everything It’s possible.
“In the first leg we did a lot of good things and that would have been enough to beat many teams, but it didn’t happen with Real.”
Playing career
After being labeled as the new Zvonimir Boban while playing in the youth team of the most successful Croatian club, Dinamo Zagreb, with only 17 years he signed, in summer of 1991, a contract with Real Madrid. His transfer cost was one million dollars, however, the contract was based on the fact that the Merengues, in case of lining him in the first team, would have to pay a total of five million, being that the probable cause of having him playing in the B squad. There, he was trained by Rafael Benítez, among others, and had an opportunity of playing along some youngsters, like Raúl and Guti.
On 11 June 1995, he gets injured while playing against Ukraine with the Croatia national under-21 team. After having a one-year pause due to injury, he returned to Croatia to play with another club from the Croatian capital, NK Zagreb.
Personal life
His father, Čedomir “Čedo” Jovićević (1952–2020) born in Žabljak, Montenegro, was the famous defender of Dinamo Zagreb, playing ten years with the most successful Croatian club. His mother, Sanja, is from Zagreb.
Igor is married and has two sons: Filip and Marcos, both players of the Dinamo Zagreb Academy.
