Pixie or Dejo

It was the second half of the 90s and I followed the qualifications for World Cup in football 1998 in France. A match was played against Slovakia in Belgrade, which the former Yugoslavia won 2:0, and the first goal was scored by Dejan Savićević, for every fan football already known as Dejo for decades. Mijatović crosses from the edge of the penalty area, Jugović hangs his head enough to direct to Savićević, who is a step ahead of the ball. In a challenging position, he still manages to go back by half a step and shoots from the first shot into the bottom right corner of the goal. "That's how masters do it," said the commentator into the microphone.

photo: stanislav milojović

A year later, now as participants in the aforementioned championship, swim they play an important match in the group against Germany. After a good half, the continuation of the match is forcefully entered, and after one such action, with a little help from Feller's goalkeeper Kepke, Dragan Stojković Pixi drops the ball into the net. Goal! Yugoslavia leads with 2:0. These matches will be just two of many in which I will get to know the lucidity and mastery of the two heroes of this text.

The two of them, Lennon and McCartney of Yugoslav/Serbian football, thundered across the green fields at the very end of the last century, and by coincidence, I had indirect contact with one of them at an early age. I grew up in the environment of partisans (which left no dilemma in the choice of club colors), with the exception of my star uncle. I have no recollection of the event itself, but I was told that for my second birthday he decided to give me a Zvezda jersey, with the Classic (deceased Tobacco Industry Nis) advertisement across the chest, number 10, with the words: "Miki will support the best club in the world". Later I would find out that the owner of that number was Dejan Savićević. The attempt to transfer it to the red and white camp did not work, but an interesting story from the family history remained, and with it the jersey in the family home in Dimitrovgrad.

Over the years, my fascination with the playing skills of these two will only grow. Whether it was the matches on TV or old matches on YouTube, it was a real treat to watch Pixie's free-kicks, Day's dribbles and a whole bunch of finesse to choose from. I have watched Pixie's famous goal against Spain at the 1990 World Cup in Italy many times in my life. Zlatko Vujović crosses into the penalty area, Srećko Katanec heads the ball to Pixie, and the hero of this action makes an extremely intelligent move: instead of immediately shooting at the goal, he breaks the Spanish defender to the side with the so-called "fake" and gently sends the ball behind the goalkeeper. How many other footballers in the world do you know who scored a goal that way? That's right, I don't know either. No matter how many times you watch that clip, you simply have to be speechless and take off your hat in front of such football lucidity.

As for Savićević, I don't think even the YouTube algorithm knows how many times I've watched the details of the 1994 Champions League final in Athens between Milan and Barcelona, ​​whose best actor by far was Dejo. The unexpectedly convincing 4:0 for the Rossoneri started with two assists from Day. For the third goal, the ball reaches him, Barca's goalkeeper Zubizarret was far enough from the goal to leave him in the gust of wind undefended, Dejo lightly lobs him and... that's the goal! One of the five best I've seen in my life, and there were some. I later found out that it was named one of the 100 best goals in Champions League history. Well deserved.

At this point, it is not too bad to mention the differences in the attitude towards football as a profession between the two. Pixie as a soccer workaholic, dedicated to training and with the desire to go all the way during the game. On the other hand, Dejo is the embodiment of the stereotype of a lazy Montenegrin, which is vividly evidenced by an anecdote from the period when he played for Crvena Zvezda: according to the testimony of his teammate, goalkeeper Stevan Stojanović, on one occasion the league match was moved from Sunday to Saturday, and Dejo's comment read: "Wait, football is played on Sunday, what a Saturday." There are also the now legendary injuries to receivers, which has remained synonymous with getting out of responsibilities. But well, the greats in all fields were always on their own. He did not earn the nickname "Genius" in Italy for nothing.

After a very long period of reflection, I admit that I came out of this soccer puzzle none the wiser. For all Day's trickery and lucidity, Pixie's fantastic overview of the game and, more broadly, both men's distinct footballing intelligence, this dilemma leaves me with no winner. Recently, in the excellent show "My top 11 with Nebojša Petrović", Slaviša Jokanović, when he was asked to put together an ideal team from all the players he played with in his career, said, among other things: "Those two should share the minutes and wear the captain's armband for half time. Two players of an extraordinary class. With them, the sound is different when they hit the ball. Control, vision, winning character." I think he perfectly summed up my dilemma, as well as that of many other football fans.

And what do you say, who is your choice?

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