Strahinja Pavlovic On Red Bull Salzburg, Monaco And Representing Serbia At The World Cup | OneFootball

An interview with Strahinja Pavlovic, by Callum McFadden for WFi.

You joined Red Bull Salzburg in the summer of 2022 and won the Austrian Bundesliga in your first season at the club. How did it feel to win your first league title in football and seal qualification for the UEFA Champions League?

“Of course I was happy that I was able to win titles in my first year at Red Bull Salzburg. It was a difficult season with many hurdles. But I’m very proud of it because you play football to win titles.

“Another very important achievement that winning the championship title brings is that it ensures that we qualified again for the group stage of the Champions League.

“I cannot wait to experience Champions League football.”

“That was an incredible time. I was only 17 years old when I was put into the team at the club and to win the cup with Partizan Belgrade was a wonderful moment for me at such a young age.

“That is definitely one of my career highlights so far. I am still in contact with many people at the club to this day and I watch every match on TV if I can. I am always rooting for Partizan Belgrade as a fan.”

“In retrospect, this time was very important in my career.

“It was my first time moving to a club abroad when I was a young player and I never thought that it might not work out.

“Overall, I played very little there and that is exactly why I had a few loan experiences.

“Even though I did not play too often, I do not reflect on my time at the club badly because it enabled me to grow as a player because I saw what you have to do in order to succeed at the highest level.”

”A good question!

“Of course, my participation in the World Cup in Qatar was a great experience. It was a pity, however, that we as a team did not offer our best performance in this tournament.

“That is why I prefer to remember the game in Lisbon against Portugal, where we still qualified for this World Cup with a goal in the 91st minute. That moment was incredible!”

”I would describe Dusan Tadic as the best teammate so far. I play with him in the Serbian team. It’s incredible how he reads a game and what he does while doing it. He has had an incredible career so far and he is still performing at such a high level.

“Probably my strongest opponent was Bernardo Silva. I had to play against him in that last World Cup qualifier, which we just won. He was really hard to stop, a great footballer.”