Serbia boss Dragan Stojkovic has tipped Jude Bellingham to one day win the Ballon d'Or and joked he hopes the England star does not play in Sunday’s Euro 2024 opener.
The Balkan nation are through to the continental finals for the first time as an independent nation and kick off Group C against one of the tournament favourites.
Serbia have pledged to make life hard for England in Gelsenkirchen but are wary of their opponent’s star names, with none shining brighter than Real Madrid midfielder Bellingham.
The 20-year-old ended a dream first season in Spain with Champions League glory, with Sunday set to be his first match since winning the Wembley final a fortnight ago.
"It’s better that he does not play! Let’s see tomorrow," Serbia boss Stojkovic said. "He’s a great boy, he’s a future Golden Ball, I think. Definitely.
"It’s impressive how he played and what he showed in a Real Madrid jersey. He’s very young but he’s so powerful and we have to be careful.
"We have to close the space, not give him too much free time to control the ball and penetrate in the space in front of him.
"He’s a very important player for the English team. Definitely.
"But we will see tomorrow. Defensively we need to be very careful and we have to show what we did during our training sessions to stop this kind of dangerous situation.
"But it’s very impressive and how he plays. He’s a very, very young guy. Some unbelievable performance, really.
"Good for England, bad for us. But we will do our best to control this kind of situations."
Those sentiments were echoed by Serbia captain Dusan Tadic.
"He’s a great player, one of the biggest talents," he said. "Definitely he will be one of the biggest threats to us, but what our coach said, we will do our best to try to
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