When Savic arrived at Atlético, he also passed that particular military that those who wear the rojiblanca for the first time with Simeone. It was difficult for him to enter, to be a starter. He would end the season with only 24 in his private account (Atlético would play 57 in total) but That did not mean that the coach of Montenegro, his country, stopped calling him for his appointment with his team. It was always there, stop by stop. “If he doesn't play for Atlético, the better for us, the fresher it will be for us,” declared then-coach Branko Brnovic. Six years later, his words are better understood. Brnovic knew. That Savic was a great center-back and always delivered. Yesterday, at the Camp Nou he played his 200th game with the rojiblanca. He is the 15th foreigner to reach that figure. (ahead, all legends, Godín, Filipe, Perea, Oblak, Griffa, Correa, Griezmann, Madinabeytia, Mendonça, Agüero, Tiago, Giménez, Futre and Ayala) and the second highest Balkan on the list, only surpassed by Oblak ( that in Saturday's game he reached 300).
“Proud to wear this shirt 200 times“, he declared on his Instagram account with a photo of the match, in a play with Griezmann. He lives his best moment in the team, becoming the most used field footballer by Simeone this season, 3,564, behind only Oblak. There where Saúl always said, now he puts the Balkan's last name. It is reliable and restrictive, unadorned, always effective. The soldiers attached to his army do not stop growing. It is already a classic.
No injuries in this 2020-21
Belonging to the rojiblanco 'Balkan clan' (Oblak, Vrsaljko, Grbic …), Savic does not wrinkle before anyone, neither his own nor strangers. The time he threw the Teacher Ortega a boot in the locker room because he heard him say about him: “This one can't even move.” When Godín and Lucas left, he became Giménez's partner to raise a wall before Oblak. But he has something that differentiates him from the others: he has not been injured in this 2020-21, he is always there, you can always count on him. And that is worth a lot. The Montenegrin has suffered injuries in his six years as a rojiblanco, a pubalgia, an ingrown nail, the nose, the six muscular ones that he chained in 2018-19, highlighting his only fate: what it costs him to rejoin after those injuries. But once it comes back and stabilizes, it doesn't relapse. With his everlasting mustache and air AlatristeHe has a contract until 2013. It has become essential. Now it is Simeone, like Brnovic once, who knows well.