Euro 2024 Moment of the Day: Jovic's 95th minute heroics that brought Serbia back to life
94:59. One second to go for the referee to blow the final whistle. That's when Luka Jovic connected.
Slovenia had been having a good game against Serbia. Right back Zan Karnicnik had started, and finished, a glorious move that spanned almost the length of the pitch to put them one up. It had looked, for the longest time like that would be it, the difference maker. Slovenia's talismanic captain Jan Oblak was in terrific form in goal, while Serbia's talisman Aleksander Mitrovic was having one to forget. He was almost there, but almost is rarely enough to beat Oblak.
Even before Serbia had conceded, they'd rung in the changes as they desperately sought some sort of a foothold in the match: Dusan Vlahovic for Luka Jovic had been one of them. The much-vaunted Vlahovic-Mitrovic partnership was just not clicking up top and as much as the Juventus man hated it, change was inevitable.
Jovic came on and brought with him an increased urgency, that pit-bull energy forcing Serbia forward, but the scoreboard remained as obstinate as Oblak. 1-0.
Defeat loomed, and with it the real possibility of a first-round exit. After the debacle of the 2022 World Cup, Serbia had struggled to regain confidence and form and an early departure from Germany would be catastrophic. For coach Dragan Stojkovic and the players, the aftermath of this was going to be bad.
Which is when they won a corner in the last minute of time added on after the ninety. The day before this, Albania's Klaus 'Spartacus' Gjasula had scored the latest equaliser in Euro history. If Serbia were to equalise now, they'd have to beat that record.
Before Ivan Ilic could prepare to take the corner, he had to first clear the area of plastic debris. Through the latter stages of the match, Serbian fans had watched their team bang their head on a firmly closed door and had resorted to throwing plastic bottles and glasses onto the pitch, aimed at Slovenian and Serbian players alike.
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The Slovenian end of the pitch had the sad look like a nightclub on the morning after a wild one. As Ilic walked over, though, the Serbs had subsided into a mournful silence. And they just stood there, silent, and motionless.
Now, at 5'9" Jovic was arguably the shortest man in that crowded Slovenian six-yard box, but that didn't stop him from going into the thick of it. A powerhouse of a forward, Jovic had always trusted in his ability to score goals. "I don't know how I ended up playing as a striker," he had once told the Players Tribune. "But as far back as I can remember I've always been obsessed with scoring."
"Sometimes I think I was just born with it. Everyone in this life has certain talents, and I think mine is scoring goals."
As a wunderkind breaking through Red Star Belgrade, he'd done just that, but his was a career of ups and downs. At Benfica, he struggled. With Eintracht Frankfurt, he evolved into a high-level goal machine. At Real Madrid, he faded. Now with AC Milan, he's become a super-sub of sorts, finding form late in the season. Milan coach Stefano Pioli never doubted his ability. "Jovic is a player who has the instinct to decide matches," he'd said.
Jovic had never stopped believing either.
Ilic came off his long-ish run and whipped a wicked ball into the six-yard box. It went past big Predrag Rajkovic, beyond a leaping Mitrovic and Nikola Milenkovic, all of them considerably taller than Jovic. It went past the nine Slovenian outfielders who'd squeezed themselves into the six-yard box (the 10th was on the penalty spot), and straight to Jovic. Held down by Slovenia's hero of the day, Karnicnik, he could get no elevation on his jump. With 6'2" centre back Jaka Bijol jumping in front of him (and a little into him), he had no clear sight of the ball either.
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But Jovic is a goalscorer. Always has been.
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