00:00Right, Nemanja, your time at Legia Warsaw was extremely successful. You scored 55 goals in 86
00:12matches, you win the trophies, you win the Polish Cups. How do you look back the period in your
00:19career today? First of all, thank you for having me and what I can say it was a wonderful, amazing
00:30full of experience one and a half year. Not so long period, but it was amazing one, like you said,
00:41very successful time for me and for the team. In that moment Legia was celebrating 100 years of
00:50let's say club and for them that year was very special one and very important. The year before
00:58the leg wasn't in the title so they wanted to make a team who will be champion again.
01:06And who was your best mate, who was your best friend in the dressing room in that Legia?
01:12It's also like make the biggest influence on your play as a striker.
01:19In that moment we have very strong and powerful dressing room with the big character of the coach,
01:26like Churchesau in that moment. The discipline was on the high level, but also we were very open to
01:34fight with each other in the dressing room for our principles, which was very important for me.
01:44My connections with Guilherme in that moment was a special one. He was playing number eight
01:49and also on the wing. My connection with Prijovich in that moment was also a special one, but we have
01:56very good characters, Polish characters in the dressing room, like Malaz, like Pazdy in that moment, like Jenza,
02:05like Ariel Boriciu in mid. Are you still keeping in touch with those guys?
02:16With Igor Levchuk? With Malaz, yes. With Malaz, yes. With Gu, yes. With Prijo, yes.
02:23I will be very happy if Legia organize a meeting. Yes, exactly. I miss this kind of group of players,
02:37because we have a really special dressing room in that moment and happy to be part of the team.
02:45Hopefully someone from Legia is going to be watching this interview and is going to be thinking about
02:50this special meeting for the players from those times. One of the unforgettable matches when you
02:57played definitely was that you mentioned about the Champions League, the Borussia Dortmund 4-8.
03:01How do you remember that game? How was the experience to you to play in that match?
03:10Happiness and madness. First, madness because I was not starting that game and I think was
03:17not a good call from the coach in that moment. I deserved to be on the field in starting eleven,
03:26but not just against Dortmund. I mean, all the games in the group stages I deserved to be on the field,
03:32because in qualification of Champions League from seven goals I was scoring, if I am not wrong, five goals.
03:39And doing a huge part to help club to be in the Champions League after 20 years.
03:48Too many goals, too good, very good game for the supporters, not so good game tactically.
03:56And it was my 50 goals when I scored for Legia in a special occasion in Champions League.
04:05My first goal in Champions League group stages, the moment when I will never forget.
04:13Nemanja, do you still follow what's going on in Legia Warsaw? Did you see which standing they are
04:20in the table? And what do you think about what makes Legia better, especially in DASDRON, which is going to be very difficult?
04:29First of all, big regards for all Legia fan supporters who are watching these interviews.
04:37They are always in my heart. They know that not just supporters, but also people who are working now
04:44in the club, presidents, sporting directors, also people who are working close to the team,
04:52in marketing side, team managers, people in academy. I was also visiting them six months before,
05:00when I studied my UEFA cursus. I was also being there and also in Legia Poznau as well. I was visiting
05:07also that club, knowing the history and trying to understand behind the scenes what's happened and how
05:15they are building the structures. And I think now in this moment they bring very good coach,
05:23who is a good leader, who is a good character. I am very happy that Zhevlakov are back to the club.
05:31He is an ex-football player, national team player. He knows Legia very well.
05:35You mentioned about the media, you mentioned about a killer, about a striker. Legia has Mileta Rajovic,
05:44is a player who, in theory, must score a lot of goals, couldn't break it through yet. Do you think
05:52it's a question of the mentality of to get it breakthrough? Maybe coach, maybe someone who can
06:01get into the Mileta and start scoring the goals. Do you still, when you're watching an extra class,
06:07I believe that the Mileta Rajovic might be the great striker for Legia Warsaw?
06:12Good question, very good question. Being very powerful inside of the box and having that killer
06:20instinct and mentality, it's something that you cannot practice. Yeah, you cannot practice meaning that
06:26you are staying after every training and making shooting exercises and believe that it can help you.
06:35For sure, it's a it's a must. It's a must that one strikers need to do. It's to make extra extra work
06:42after the training, before the training and prepare himself mentally, physically to be on the top.
06:48But strikers, especially guys who were before me players of Legia Warsaw and saying also maybe Svitlica,
07:02who was I think on top, Ljuboja, Rado, let's say Prio, me. I think this kind of players has really,
07:15really, really strong character and good mentality. And being number one striker for Legia Warsaw,
07:22it's not just about your quality and about how much goals you will score. It's about how you will
07:30handle the pressure from media, from outside, from supporters and which kind of personality you will
07:38bring in the dressing room and to the coach. Because you will have momentum when nobody will ask you
07:46how you play on the field, how much ball you receive, how much head challenges you will want in
07:57pro centers. For me, Legia strikers need to need to have killer mentality and nothing more than that.
08:03And how was to play alongside Bastian Schweinsteiger? Because he was a player,
08:08he came from Manchester United, so it was like a good, big star in the Chicago Fire in that season.
08:16Yeah, one of the reasons why I chose Chicago is because of my coach Veljko Povnovic, who is now the
08:24head coach of the Serbian national team. He came to watch me when we play against Krakow,
08:34in Warsaw. After that I had a phone conversation and in that moment he explained that he's very close
08:41to sign Bastian Schweinsteiger. He's not officially, but he's in the contact with him and his agent and
08:46try to find a solution how they can move him from Manchester United to Chicago. He told me that his plan
08:52is to sign Dex McCarthy, who in that moment was national team player and captain of New York Red Bull,
09:02to sign Alexander Kataj, who also came from Alaves, from Spanish club, from Juninho, who in that moment
09:11was playing for LA Galaxy. So in that moment, when I had a conversation with Veljko, he told me a couple of
09:18names that he told me that they want to build a team who will try to win something in the next three years.
09:25And I was the first signing. He told me that he want me to sign first and to show the message to the media
09:35and to everybody that in these transfer windows they try to bring some good names in the team.
09:42Of course, he was very happy when Bastian came to our club. It brings a lot of supporters on the stands.
09:52He's the player who win everything in his career and one of the best midfielder in the world,
10:00one of the legends, who was an example on and off the field, of course, and helped each of us to be a better player.
10:10So, yeah, we have a really, really good group of the players in the dressing room.
10:20Like I said, proud to make a challenge and to play for Chicago Fire, because a lot of people told me
10:27that it will not be a good decision for my career, because the club was not in the good momentum
10:34and never won nothing and also especially for the strikers going there for the team who was last
10:41on the league when I signed for them. It was a good challenge for me and after three years I can say
10:49that I made a very good move, because even if we don't win nothing, I think playing for Chicago Fire,
10:57one of the most traditional club in MLS, connecting Hungarian supporters with Chicago Fire clubs,
11:09playing in the city with big community of Hungarian people, Serbian people, Polish people as well,
11:16means a lot for me and in the end of the day for my career after football brings me a good contacts
11:24and good connections with MLS leagues as well. Even with my school in the UEFA program,
11:32what I was in the last two years, we was visiting Miami club and it was also good feelings going back to
11:41MLS club in America and hopefully it will not be my last time, because my plan was also to visit
11:50the Chicago Fire, to see the new stadium hopefully and cross fingers for them to win something and to
12:00bring one strikers who will again be top scorer like me and will be successful on the field, because they
12:05deserve it for sure. Saying that, Nemanja, there are rumours, there are media speculations that Robert
12:12Lewandowski might join to Chicago Fire when his contract is going to be finished with FC Barcelona
12:21until the end of this season. Would you recommend Robert that destination? Obviously he's a great striker,
12:30so he can replace you as one of the best strikers in the Chicago Fire history then.
12:37First of all, he's not great, he's an amazing striker and one of the best in the world.
12:43I think Chicago Fire will have very difficult jobs if they want to, because they will fight for,
12:50if the Robert decide to leave Barcelona, they will fight with a lot of clubs to sign him. For sure, one of
12:56their weapons can be the Polish community, what they have in Chicago Fire. He will feel like home for sure.
13:07And bringing some good names like Robert in the team can also attract more good players with him as well.
13:16Also, I hope that with Robert also Chicago can connect and can bring very, very, very good names who can help
13:26the club again to be on the top of the league. To finish, Nemanja, the fans of Legia Warsaw and the
13:34fans of Chicago Fire can sleep well. It's going to be a bright future for both those clubs, isn't it?
13:39I hope so. I hope so. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Nemanja. Thank you.
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