Although Dusan Vlahovic is still Juventus’ top scorer this season, the striker has been sitting out for weeks. That won’t happen to him in the Serbian national team.
Serbia will take on Austria in the upcoming Nations League play-offs – and will definitely do so with Dusan Vlahovic. This was made clear by national coach Dragan Stojkovic this Monday.
Corriere dello Sport quotes the 60-year-old former professional from Red Star Belgrade, Olympique Marseille and Hellas Verona as follows: “I think highly of Vlahovic and his qualities. In football, there are always negative feelings around a club. I don’t want to go into detail, interfere and suggest how he can be used more. That’s their business. But as far as I’m concerned, he’ll always play.”
The background to all this is Vlahovic’s current situation at Juventus Turin.
The goal scorer, who moved from AC Fiorentina for a lot of money in 2022, is definitely going through his most difficult time with the Bianconeri so far. The current coach, Thiago Motta, who is under a lot of pressure himself after the recent 3-0 loss at Fiorentina and the 4-0 loss against Atalanta Bergamo, is not currently relying on Vlahovic.
Since the winter loan of former Frankfurt player Randal Kolo Muani, who himself came from Paris Saint-Germain after playing little, the Serbian has only made three of twelve competitive games from the start. These included the 2-0 defeat to Benfica Lisbon at the end of the Champions League group stage, the 1-0 Serie A win at Cagliari Calcio and the home game in the Coppa Italia quarter-finals against outsiders Empoli. In the 4-2 defeat on penalties, Vlahovic was symbolic of the current Juve crisis.
What is likely to make the whole thing even more critical from the Serbian international’s point of view is that on Sunday, in the 3-0 defeat at his former club Fiorentina, the striker was not even substituted – even though Kolo Muani himself failed to score again – and has not scored in over a month. On top of that, Vlahovic remains the Old Lady’s top scorer this season with nine Serie A goals in 22 appearances, as well as four goals in nine CL appearances.
His national team coach Stojkovic therefore said that the current situation at Juventus is “not good” for his protégé. His approach to a solution: “Every player goes through positive and negative phases in their career. We definitely think a lot of Dusan, he is one of the most important players for our game. And here with us, he now has the opportunity to show that what they are doing to him is not good.”
