On March 6th, Luka Milivojević announced his retirement from Serbia during an interview with Večernje Novosti.
The Crystal Palace player was critical about his country’s FA and stated he only delayed his retirement decision due to his national teammates.
Roy Hodgson’s man made his debut for Serbia’s senior team in 2012 and last made an appearance for them in November 2020. Ahead of this month’s international break, the 29-year-old decided to no longer represent his county.
Milivojević has now given a long interview to Serbian outlet Sport Klub, where he said the decision that he took earlier this month wasn’t easy for him.
“It’s a very difficult decision for me. I waited a very long time, one long period of time. By far the biggest part that exists in football is to play for your country, to make your people happy,” he said.
“There is no better feeling. Go back to your country, play in front of your audience, your people, your family. If you manage to achieve something, as we did by qualifying for the World Cup – that feeling is priceless.”
The Eagles player further stressed that he stands by what he said when he announced his retirement, and once again expressed his regret for not taking this step earlier. Milivojević explained why he decided to wait and what sort of an impact it had on him.
“I came to the situation to say goodbye to the national team at the age of 29, I said what made me make that decision. I stand behind it,” the Serbian stressed.
“I blame myself for not making that decision earlier because I tortured myself at some point for something, I believed it would be better, that some changes would happen.”
“At one point I practically gave up, but at the urging of teammates and some people around the team I stayed again.
“I did my best, I tried several times to get over everything, for the first time in my life I went against myself for something.
“Simply, nothing changes. I saw a lot of things that weren’t football. It takes me so long to tell everything I saw. I think that two hours is not enough.”
Milivojević’s decision to retire from Serbia will allow him to focus only on Crystal Palace, with whom he has a contract until 2023.
