Petrusev: “He plays with seven players and Ataman has 3/4 titles – I would react differently with Lesor”

An interview with Meso of his hometown was granted by Philip Petrushevwith the Serbian forward playing on loan at Red Star from the Olympic to speak for… everyone and everything.

What Petrusev stated in detail in “SportKlub»:

For his grandfather, who had an important role in his childhood: “I remember everything, really! Grandfather died two or three years ago. Every time I think of him… Those are my best memories, especially those from my childhood. I come from a normal and humble family, my father and mother worked… Grandma took care of us and grandfather did transport work. He loved basketball very much, he enjoyed taking his younger brother and me to practice. Although he wasn’t allowed to watch practice, he always found a way to take a look. Most of the credits go to him for all of this. I was in a school where you are alone without parents, such conditions make you grow up. There you rely on yourself… Two beds, two tables, a small room. However, when you see the end goal, it makes you grit your teeth and make some sacrifices. I think all of that helped me be where I am today.”

For college in the US: “In America, there are a lot of what they call ‘glycologists.’ You really don’t know what they’re thinking. They tell you what you want to hear. I saw so many things there that nothing can surprise me anymore. I accept everything that happens, process the information and move on. From all this nice talk and good treatment, it’s time for them to make some decisions. Then the behavior is such that they forget you, push you away… There, many things are considered by business, by money.”

For the Serbian national team and the communication between players and coaches within it: “I don’t know how it was before, but in these two or three years it seems to me that communication is free. Especially when you have players like Jokic and Bogdanovic in the team – there is a lot of discussion, exchange of views. Whatever he says (s.s. Pesic) – he will hear everything. Pesic sees how players feel about certain things on and off the pitch. When the dates and times are convenient for us, he lets us make some decisions… I also worked with Ataman. If he told us there was a flight to Barcelona at 9am so we would arrive for lunch at noon, the flight would be at 9, regardless of the fact that we would get less sleep.

At Red Star there is a culture of homegrown players being the swashbucklers, which can be seen in the dressing room. It is a family atmosphere, foreigners adapt very well. I said they are a better team now than two years ago because there are a lot of good players. Although sometimes this is not a good thing, here Ataman plays with seven players and wins three titles in the last four years. Let’s say we had Cabaso and Luka (Vildosa), I don’t know who would win if these two teams played each other, honestly.”

For the dispute he had on the pitch with Matias Lessor in March 2023 in a Belgrade derby: “Okay, I didn’t like it, of course, but all my life I have some things that don’t touch me and don’t interest me. That’s how I saw this situation. I know I didn’t do anything wrong, I know that. We were at their headquarters, something started, I went to the bench to avoid a circus. What’s done is done. Would I have reacted differently if I went back in time? I probably would have, but I don’t think I reacted badly at the time either. Of course, after everything that happened, everyone – who has even an ounce of brain – knows that no one sued anyone or anything, it was a matter of the teams and the organization, that you have to go and make a report. The biggest fuss arose around this. I played against him many times after that, no problem, that was it.”