Bilic: Everyone Thought I Was Crazy And Too Brave

Croatian football team selector Slaven Bilic remembered how many did not believe him when he took over the bench.

Croatian football team selector Slaven Bilic was interviewed for the UEFA official web site. He answered various questions about him, the team and the upcoming EURO competition.

Germany – the most beautiful and saddest memory

Bilic gladly remembered the days he was a player, when he was writing the pages of Croatian football history with the famous Miroslav Blazevic`s generation.

- As a player I was happy just to be a part of [the tournament] once. I played in England – that's the place to play – Bilic recalls.

- The saddest moment in my career was when we lost to Germany in the quarter-finals. I thought we were better than them –

His fondest memory also happened during the match against Germany.

- Best memory though was when [Davor] Suker equalised to make the score 1-1 at Old Trafford – Bilic paused - That was the best memory of my career –

There are similarities

After pleasant memories, Bilic spoke of his current post, as the coach of the national side. Without much hesitation, he compared this generation with his one.

- We have similar character, a similar spirit, and we are even similar in our skill. You could say that team had more world class players because in midfield you had [Aljosa] Asanovic, [Zvonomir] Boban, [Robert] Prosinecki and up front you had [Alen] Boksic and Suker. But we hadn't had a chance to play before because of the war in Croatia. Most of us were 27 or 28 when we played in EURO '96 and the World Cup in 1998. This team is younger, unknown by the rest of Europe, but I'm positive it will have a similar number of world class players. It is a different time, but we have a good team now as well – Bilic praised his lads.

The extent of their quality was best shown by their match at Wembley when mighty England was shamed with unbelievable Croatian performance. However, Bilic says they have not always trusted his calls.

- When I put three of them, [Luka] Modric, [Vedran] Corluka, Eduardo [da Silva] straight into the first XI in my first game, a friendly against Italy in Livorno, people said I was crazy, that I was too brave. But I could do it because I knew them, because they were progressing with me, not only in football, but in life. I simply knew they were going to be good, that they were ready to play at the highest level. It helped me a lot [being Under-21 manager] because I simply knew those guys – Bilic recalls –

“Teams think they can beat Croatia quite easily”

This young team of his has made it to the EURO competition, where Germany, Poland and Austria await them in Group B.

- We're a really strong nation, we have a good character. But you do have to work on it. We're never going to be treated like England, France, Italy, Spain or Germany, but we are good. But in some ways I would like this lack of respect to continue because maybe teams think they can beat Croatia quite easily. But I think players know we're good and they respect us a lot –

Slaven Bilic touched on a topic that has caused a ruckus in Croatia as well as the world, Eduardo da Silva`s injury.

- All I can do is guarantee we're going to do our best, that we're going to progress, that we're going to play some good football. I can't guarantee the results but that should bring us to the point where we'll be able to play against any team with equal chances of beating them. I was happy for Greece in 2004 because Greece gave hope to the smaller nations like us that we can do it –

Finally, Bilic commented on his hobby – playing the guitar.

- Some guys play golf, some guys play street football, others play chess, others spend hours on the internet. I play guitar and I need it to do my job properly. Sometimes it's my charger and sometimes it relaxes me but I definitely need it and can't do my job without music. Hearing the Croatian national anthem come kick off against Austria in Vienna on 8 June will be the sweetest music of all – Bilic concludes.