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Miron Muslic: We shouldn’t measure ourselves against Sevilla
Miron Muslic experienced his first moments at the VELTINS-Arena in a special friendly match on Schalke Day (26/7). Afterwards, he looked back on the game, the completed pre-season and the Royal Blues’ mentality.
After the game, it was not just the match against the Spanish top-tier side – which Sevilla eventually won 4-2 – but also the whole day in and around the stadium that stuck in Muslic’s mind. “Today was a very intensive and emotional day. I’m incredibly taken with the passion of the fans,” said the head coach. “I was also fortunate enough that my family have also been in Gelsenkirchen since yesterday, so they could spend the day with me when I had my first match here at the stadium.”
Over 80,000 people flocked to the Royal Blues’ season-opening event, which, for the coach and the team, began at 10:00 CEST in the morning when they met at the first team performance centre. There were many highlights, including the official presentation on the stage, autograph signings and the friendly game in front of 45,000 spectators. “It’s a real privilege for me to experience this. It was a wonderful day for me.”
It’s a real privilege for me to experience this. It was a wonderful day for me.
The result of the match did not make much difference to the head coach’s outlook. Muslic knows not to read too much into the game: “We shouldn’t measure ourselves against a Spanish top-division side like Sevilla. We won’t play against a team with so much quality, and particularly individual class, in the league every week.” The S04 boss did see his team improve during the game: “We showed them too much respect in the first half, and invited the opponents onto us through our mistakes. That made me all the more pleased with the second half, when we played with courage and showed a response.”
Showing the right response
Muslic now wants to build on that second half: “You could tell that the team are getting more and more used to our setup and our principles. Fighting our way back into the game from 2-0 down against Sevilla and making things happen is exactly the kind of reaction we want to see as coaching staff.”
Muslic is also pleased with how the last five weeks of pre-season have gone: “We’re happy that it’s now finally time to get going. The past few weeks were very intensive with all the training sessions and friendlies, and we’ve still got a bit of a way to go,” added the head coach. “But we saw things again today which we can take with us. The foundations have been set, so now it’s about recovering well before the start of the league season and then getting started with renewed energy against Hertha.”
