Friendship with Onopko and trophies with Atlético: Serbian football coach Radomir Antic passed away

Condolences from the President

In Madrid, at the 72nd year of his life, after a short illness, one of the best Serbian football specialists Radomir Antic died. He went down in history as the only specialist who in different years headed the Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid as well as Barcelona. Despite the fact that he spent almost his entire coaching career in Spain, Antic enjoyed huge popularity at home thanks to his colossal experience, knowledge and authority. In recent years, few have been respected in Serbian sports as much as Antic.

La familia atlética está de luto por el fallecimiento de uno de nuestros entrenadores legendarios: Radomir Antic. Siempre estarás en nuestros corazones. Descanse en paz. ➡ https://t.co/lnE5FL0lWtpic.twitter.com/50mgGMf51p

“The departure of Antich left a void in the heart of all who knew him. Serbia can be proud of having such a person abroad who has always been proud of his country. We express our sincere condolences to the Antich family. Rest in peace, ”the official statement of the Football Union of Serbia says.

Words of condolences to the relatives and friends of the deceased were expressed in the Belgrade Partizan, where Antic spent most of his player’s career.

“To say that I am shocked and absolutely astounded is to say nothing. Radomir was a great man, a friend of the club, a legend in black and white. He always expressed his love for Partizan. Every time he was in Belgrade, he took every opportunity to come to the stadium, ”said club general director Milos Vazura.

In turn, the President of Serbia, Alexander Vučić, emphasized that Antic decorated the football history both as a player and as a coach.

“Some of the best clubs on the planet have lost a wonderful professional and experienced coach, and we, his fans, have lost a football master for all time. Sincere condolences to family and friends, ”the head of state wrote on Instagram.

Their condolences in connection with the death of a specialist were expressed in Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atlético.

El Real Madrid CF, su presidente y la Junta Directiva lamentan con gran consternación el fallecimiento de Radomir Antic, quien fuera entrenador del Real Madrid desde marzo de 1991 hasta enero de 1992. # RealMadridpic.twitter.com / QIFMuCJjaz

Replacing Di Stefano in Real Madrid

Radomir Antic was born in November 1948 in the northeast of the autonomous region of Vojvodina (Yugoslavia) in a family of Bosnian Serbs who moved here after World War II. A few years later, the family moved to the south-west of Serbia to the industrially developed Titovo-Uzice (now Uzice). Young Antich made his first steps in adult football in the local Sloboda. Together with him, in the late 1960s, the future superstar Crvena Zvezda, vice-champion of Europe-1968 Miroslav Pavlovich, spoke for her. Unlike his teammate, Antic did not become a really big player. Although he was the main defender of Partizan for several years at home, he played only for Fenerbahce, Zaragoza and Luton Town abroad.

But it was in Spain that the legionnaire from Yugoslavia really took root. Having completed his career at age 36, after an internship at the Partizan coaching staff, he returned to Zaragoza as a mentor. Experiencing great interest in the work of the coach, Antich began to prepare for a new role, still entering the field. The teacher for him was the Englishman David Plit, under whose leadership the Yugoslav played out in Luton. Radomir himself subsequently noted that he had adopted a number of elements from his stove in his own style.

After the Zaragoza, Antic was called to Real Madrid in late March 1991. Moreover, the foreigner had to lead the royal club in the most difficult period of their history - against the background of a painful defeat from the Moscow Spartak in the quarterfinals of the Champions Cup and the dismissal of club legend Alfredo di Stefano. He did not train anyone else, and Radomir immediately raised the team in crisis from the seventh to the final third place in the table. But for "creamy" such a result was still considered a deafening failure.

The next season, the Madrid began with five victories in a row. The team showed bright football, Fernando Hierro shone in its composition. Antich brilliantly succeeded in experimenting with transferring a nominal defender to the center of the field. In a new position, the player began to score a lot, finishing the championship with 21 goals in the asset. Season 1991/92 was the most productive in the career of the future captain of Real Madrid. In addition, under Yugoslav, the very young Luis Enrique, in the future coach of Barcelona, ​​Roma and the Spanish national team, began to play for the “cream” ones.

All the more inexplicable was the decision of the club leadership to replace the Yugoslav specialist with the Dutchman Leo Benhakker in the midst of the season. Antich was fired after the winning match, and the changer managed to lose the advantage and miss Barcelona on the first line. After such a finish, he was fired.

Championship with Atletico and failed transfer Onopko

Antich, meanwhile, sought more and more recognition in the coaching field and, after several good years at Oviedo, ended up at Atlético. Many rumored that he had crossed over into the camp of Real Madrid’s worst enemy in revenge for his unjust resignation. First of all, Antich hastened to get rid of Igor Dobrovolsky and other legionnaires who did not show themselves to the proper degree. The priority task of the mentor in the transfer market was the acquisition of Spartak captain Viktor Onopko, whom the specialist wanted to see back in Oviedo.

The parties almost agreed on a contract when the former Antich club protested. The case was investigated by FIFA arbitration. As a result, Onopko ended up in Oviedo, and Atletico, under the guidance of a new coach, issued a fantastic season 1995/96, winning the Spanish Championship and the King’s Cup. Antich quite rightly recognized as the best coach Examples. More successes of this level in his career did not happen.

Subsequently, Antich invariably spoke warmly about Onopko, calling him his friend and one of the most beloved football players with whom he had a chance to work. They still met at Oviedo in 2000. The current CSKA coach once spoke about the circumstances of his failed move to Madrid.

“There the whole story came out. In a nutshell, the agents just cheated on me. They assured that there was a clause in the contract, according to which the buyer, who had offered Spartak a large sum, received the right of primary purchase of my transfer sheet. I still didn’t understand spanish in Spanish, I signed an agreement. Naive. After the vacation, there was a call from Antic, already an Atlético coach. I went to the Spanish capital, talked with the son of Jesus Gil, at that time he helped the famous dad in the club. We agreed on everything. And then Oviedo appeared in the arena. And he threatened me with excommunication from football, ”Onopko recalled in an interview with the Championship.

Record with Barcelona and work with Mostov

Radomir left Atlético several times and returned to the Club of Madrid. However, to repeat success in the era of the eccentric club president Jesus Gil, who changed coaches like gloves, was almost impossible. In the 1999/2000 season, it was Antich who was destined to become a coach, in which Atletico left the elite division of the Spanish Championship for the first time in 65 years, although his predecessor brought the team to such a state, and the Serb did not have time to change anything.

In 2003, Antic was invited to Barcelona, ​​which, like Real Madrid 12 years earlier, was going through hard times. Under Louis van Gale, the Catalans were on the verge of departure from Examples. He raised the blaugrana to an acceptable position, but did not become a legend for this club. The most notable fact of his short stay at the head of the blue-garnet was the record-breaking unbeaten streak in the Champions League. In addition, Radomir has gained a reputation as a “crisis manager”.

However, he failed to rectify the situation according to a similar scenario in Celta next year. Alexander Mostovoy acted below his capabilities, having problems with a set of forms after an injury. After a local failure, the Serb retired for several years.

Before the start of the selection for the 2010 World Cup, he accepted the Serbian national team and first brought it to the mundial as a team of an independent state (after the collapse of Yugoslavia). In South Africa, the Serbs could not leave the group, but defeated the Germans, who took third place in the tournament, losing to the Spaniards in the semifinals. Antich completed his eventful career in China, where he got the opportunity to earn serious money.