Evgeny Lovchev: Tedesco and Klopp opposed Russia, and life punished them

We asked the best football player of the USSR in 1972 Evgenia Lovcheva to comment on this news, but Evgeny Serafimovich first turned the conversation to another topic.

– Tedesco and Schwartz not so two great exemplars in world football, – says Lovchev. – No one in Europe really needs them. But Tedesco especially upset me. He worked in Russia, got good money, and then he left and began to criticize our country. Same Klopp: after the start of the CBO, he said that he correctly postponed the Champions League final from St. Petersburg.

Someone up there sees everything: he spoke out against Russia – and life will punish you. Tedesco came forward and kicked him out of Leipzig. Klopp performed – and lost to Real Madrid in the Champions League.

– But back to Tedesco and Belgium. The golden generation is descending, is there a worthy replacement for it?

– For Tedesco to lead the Belgian national team is a super offer. A generation is leaving, but a new generation has already been brought up on its example. True, Tedesco does not have time to wait there for 5 or 10 years for a new generation to come along.

– But even now Belgium has a powerful backbone – de Bruyne, Lukaku, Carrasco, Tielemans, Witsel. There is someone to build a team around.

– If we are talking about the fact that a renewed Belgium should become a world or European champion, then we can firmly say that it will not.

The world championships are won by the same great football powers – Argentina, Italy. France. Brazil, Germany. Belgium, after all, does not belong to the great powers, although the team was very decent. But she didn’t win anything.

– Bronze at the 2018 World Cup. I do not think that someone will set the task for Tedesco to win the World Cup or the European Championship. I think the task will be more modest – to qualify and play in these tournaments.

– Of course, the Belgians will be able to get out of the qualifying group, but a lot will depend on the draw.

OUR REFERENCE

Tedesco, 37, took charge of Leipzig last season, winning a Champions League spot with him and winning the German Cup. However, in early September, after a disastrous start in the Bundesliga, he was fired.

Joachim Löw and André Villas-Boas have previously turned down offers to lead the Belgian national team.