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Here’s what Coach Sforza says: “Long ball, and the story is over”(00:41)
Ciriaco Sforza (50) doesn’t talk around the bush for long. Equalization at 1: 1 was “unnecessary”. “A long ball forward and the story is over”, says the FCB coach. Instead, their goalkeeper, Djordje Nikolic, plays the ball briefly, directly at the feet of Vaduz striker Nicolae Milinceanu. The Moldovan serves Manuel Sutter, making up for the newcomer.
It is not the only uncertainty of Nikolic, who looks anything but elegant, especially with tall balls. In the 70th minute, Fabian Frei yelled loudly and clearly “don’t be nervous” on the pitch when Nikolic had the ball at his feet. A short time later, the goalkeeper lets a harmless ball hit his side instead of holding it.
Sforza and Stocker strengthen Nikolic’s back
However, they don’t want to know anything about a problem with the goalkeeper in Basel. Sforza answered the relevant question with a clear “no.”
Captain Valentin Stocker also demonstratively supports Nikolic. The predecessor Jonas Omlin also struggled at first. “I can remember that he made some mistakes in friendly matches before the start of the season.” However, above all, the poor draw at the beginning against the promoted team is mainly due to the fact that they played very little precisely and in the end they did not have more strength. “That shouldn’t be an excuse, but we played until the end of August and we still have to work on our fitness level,” Stocker says.
And he mentions the arduous trip to Croatia last Thursday. Back then Nikolic led FCB to the next round of the Europa League with a monster parade, so Sforza is sure he has a good goalkeeper even after Vaduz’s match. The only question is: How many more mistakes can Nikolic afford before Sforza has Heinz Lindner?
The mistakes would be devastating against the Cypriots
The newcomer Lindner is synonymous with routine, he is seven years older than the young Serbian. And he has shown in general that he is capable of super league. Nikolic has so far not provided this evidence. At FC Thun, for example, he failed to beat Guillaume Favre, but was seeded in the Challenge League at Aarau and Schaffhausen.
The Serbian has played 17 competitive matches for FCB so far, will there be more to come? On Thursday in the Europa League against Famagusta, another mistake would be devastating. A draw at the start of the season against the promoted team is weak, but the Super League season is a marathon and not a sprint. In the event of a defeat against the Cypriots, the FCB would be out of the international race. Nikolic makes Basel nervous.
