Ivanovic: Serbia will find it hard to rouse themselves

SERBIA captain Branislav Ivanovic feels facing Scotland will be even tougher then playing in a bitter Balkan clash because he and his teammates will be burdened by the guilt of feeling they’ve let their countrymen down.

The shattered Serbs are probably the only team in Europe right now who feel worse than Scotland after a tame surrender to their Croatian neighbours in Friday night’s 2-0 defeat in Zagreb.

Their capitulation in Scotland’s World Cup group went down particularly badly with their own media, with manager Sinisa Mihajlovic coming under fierce criticism. The very first question he was asked after the game was if he now accepted he was a coaching ignoramus.

He picked a very young, inexperienced team and they couldn’t cope with a Croatian side who barely raised their game above cruise control.

Chelsea defender Ivanovic was part of a defence that looked unable to defend and was badly deflated after the game as the Croatians celebrated long into the night. And he admitted it will be tough for the home side to pick themselves up tomorrow against Gordon Strachan’s struggling Scots in Novi Sad.

Ivanovic said: “For us, psychologically, it’s going to be more difficult to play against Scotland than it was here.

“We’re back in our country where everyone will be disappointed in us – the media, supporters, everyone. It means more pressure for us but with this young squad we must show more character and quality on the pitch.

“Of course, it will be very difficult. We have to switch on quick and to think only about the game, which is very difficult at this moment to think only about Scotland. The game against Scotland is very important and will be a good test for us.”

Serbia froze in the hostile surroundings of the Maksimir Stadium where half the stadium chanted “Kill, Kill” to which the other half responded with “The Serbs.” The match itself was a relatively damp squip, with barely a hefty challenge all night.

The Serbs were so intent on being good sportsmen and maintaining a Fair Play approach to the game – which included clapping the Croatian national anthem, despite their own one being loudly booed minutes earlier – that they completely lost their edge.

Ivanovic accepted it was a wretched evening for his side, in what was the first-ever meeting between the two countries since the 1990s civil war.

He said: “It was very disappointing for our country, for our supporters and it was difficult to concede two early goals. The first goal in this kind of game is massive and it gave them a big advantage. We did everything to get back in the game and we had a couple of chances in the second half to score, but we didn’t do that and it’s very disappointing.

“Both teams came into the game under pressure, but we expected that. When you start the game you forget everything. It was difficult to listen to the fans because we were focused on the game and our situation so we didn’t think much about their supporters.

“The atmosphere wasn’t a problem and we actually expected it to be much harder than it even was. But now we must look forward to the Scotland game. We have another chance against Croatia in Belgrade.”