Serbia v Nigeria: Matic, Ivanovic top Krstajic’s lists of invited players

By Amaechi Agbo

Manchester United midfield player, Nemanja Matic and former Chelsea defender, Branislav Ivanovic, are among top stars Serbian coach, Mladen Krstajic has invited ahead of the Russia 2018 World Cup warm up match against the Super Eagles of Nigeria in two weeks’ time.
The coach of the senior national team of Serbia released the list of players who will be in action when they take on Nigeria in a friendly game later this month in Barnet yesterday.
Head coach Mladen Krstajic named Manchester United midfielder Nemanja Matic in the squad which was released earlier today ahead of the March 27th game.
The list consists of three goalkeepers, ten defenders, nine midfielders and two forwards lead by Fulham forward Aleksandar Mitrovic with Aleksandar Prijovic of PAOK Salonica, the other forward named in the squad.
Former Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic who now plays for Russian side Zenith St. Petersburg tops the list of defenders which also has Dusan Basta of Lazio and Roma defender Aleksandar Kolarov, who was once on the books of English Premier League leaders Manchester City.
Bar Matic, Southampton midfielder Dusan Tadic was also listed alongside the likes of Sergei Milinkovic-Savic of Lazio, Adem Ljajic of Torino and on loan Liverpool midfielder Marko Grujic who is with Cardiff City temporarily.
The home of English League Two club, Barnet FC will host the Super Eagles of Nigeria’s first warm-up friendly game ahead of the FIFA World Cup in Russia against Serbia.
Both countries qualified for the World Cup after topping their respective groups in their various confederations and will use the match as a preparatory game.
Nigeria and Serbia will be officially facing each other for the first time, with the previous fixture between both nations being also a pre-World Cup friendly in 1998 in Belgrade which was won 3-0 by the hosts, who were then known as Yugoslavia.
The match will take place at the 5,176 capacity Hive Stadium at Edgware, England, on Thursday, 27 March by 8pm Nigerian time.
Serbian Squard:
Goalkeepers: Vladimir Stojkovic (Partizan), Predrag Rajkovic (Maccabi), Marko Dmitrovic (Eibar);
Defenders: Branislav Ivanovic (Zenit), Antonio Rukavina (Villarreal), Dusan Basta (Lazio), Nikola Maksimovic (Spartak Moscow), Vujadin Savic (Red Star), Matija Nastasic (Schalke), Dusko Tosic (Besiktas), Milos Veljkovic ), Aleksandar Kolarov (Roma), Ivan Obradovic (Anderlecht)
Midfielders: Nemanja Matic (Manchester United), Luka Milivojevic (Kristal Palas), Sergei Milinkovic-Savic (Lazio), Adem Ljajic (Torino), Mijat Gacinovic (Eintracht), Marko Grujic (Cardiff), Dusan Tadic (Southampton), Filip Kostic (Hamburg), Andrija Zivkovic (Benfica)
Forwards: Aleksandar Mitrovic (Fulham), Aleksandar Prijovic (PAOK)