Danko Lazovic played 47 times for the Serbian national team. He moved to Videoton in June and showed some great passes in his debut game. He then scored a wonderful goal against Gyirmot at the weekend. We asked the forward about his earlier experiences and private life.

– It is more than a month since you signed for us. You scored your first goal in a Vidi shirt against Gyirmot last Sunday. What have your first impressions been about Hungarian football? Have you been surprised by anything in the domestic game?

– I am still getting used to the surroundings, but I have to say that I have a good impression and I like the stadiums. The pitches are good and football seems well organised. I know that everything is fine at Videoton. but the other stadiums where we have been, all look good, especially if we look at this area in Europe. I feel that it is not by accident that the Hungarian national team did well at the European Championships. I feel good with regards to my future in Hungarian football.

– I am sure that it was a great feeling to play in front of the Partizan crowd during your playing career. What was it like to go out on the pitch and play for the Grobari?

– Every game was crazy and something always happened especially in the derby game with Zvezda! Partizan is to me like my second home. As if I was born there. People have such strong feelings when they go to matches, especially when it is the derby match. I would tell anyone interested in football to go and watch a Partizan - Zvezda match, and I am sure they will not be disappointed.

– Before playing in Russia or signing for PSV, you moved to Feyenoord. You then switched a couple of years later to Germany and Bayer Leverkusen, before returning home for half a year. Although you played in Holland and Germany, you did not really manage to make the breakthrough then. What was the reason for this?

– Looking back: I was not totally ready when I signed for Feyenoord. I was considered one of the big talents in Europe, and many teams were after me, but I should have stayed at Partizan for another year. I still needed to learn about professional football, and in the European Championships after Partizan, but I missed out on that. I would have been more experienced and mature with those experiences behind me to play at a level above. I still had two and a half good years in Rotterdam. I learned a lot but I did not manage to play the way they had expected me to. 

– Could we say that success played on your mind at a young age?
– I did not think that that was the problem, but it is true that I was quite popular in Serbia. The club treated me like a big star, but if we look around Europe, then I was only one talented player, but not a star. Feyenoord paid a lot of money for me, and a club like that did not have enough patience. They expected results and good performances. Things were not easy at the beginning, but once I learned the language and could understand things, my game improved.

– You made your debut for the Serbian national team at this time. You were a major player for them between 2006 and 2010. Serbian football was very strong during that period. It must have been special to play with players that a few years earlier you admired from a distance?

– Huh, I am lucky to have played together with players like Peja Mijatovics, Sinisa Mihajlovics, Szlavisa Jokanovics, Szavo Milosevics and many others. The best perhaps was Mijatovics, but Dejan Szavicsevics and Dragan Sztojkovics. I would choose those two if you asked me to pick a couple of names. Naturally I had seen them on the TV at a young age, and then sat next to them and ate together with them. We spoke and that was a fantastic experience. My first game was against Brazil, which included Ronaldo! I can not say anything else but that it was fantastic.

– You did not only make good decisions with the national team, but also in your own personal life. Your wife Jovana has been with you for a very long time. How long have you known each other?

– I was 18 when I first saw her and she is like one part of me. I am difficult but we have stuck together through thick and thin for 13 years. She always supported me, even if I was not in the right, and we also have two lovely children. I have changed in recent years and I am not like I was 8-10 years ago. I can now concentrate much better on the really important things.

– We could see them in the stands supporting Vidi in Belgrade. If football is not the subject, what is life like in the Lazovic family?

– I think that it is hard to be a parent in the 21st century. Everything is put in front of a child. My wife and I try our best to show them the important things and give those to them. We teach them to respect other people, and be able to make decisions between what is good and bad. I feel that this is now the most important.

– Are you a strict father?
– I would not say so. You know that I can never say no to my children. The mother is the strict one (laugh).

– What is your current biggest motivation?
– That has to be my family and my children. Football always motivated me and trying to do something good in the game and also to win. I would also gladly help the younger players and show them what they can count on in the professional game in the future.

– Would you like to be a coach?
– With my personality? That would not be easy. I do not think about being a coach, but perhaps in sports management once. Perhaps at Partizan! I still want to play for a couple of years and really enjoy the game.

– Can you imagine playing out the rest of your career with Videoton?
– The reason I came here was because I had heard plenty of positive things about Vidi. I would like to help the team to the title and win cups. My home is close and so is my family and I am very happy here. Everything is in place for me to play football in Szekesfehervar for a long time.

Danko Lazovic scores his first goal for Vidi.