NEMANJA MATIC SAID he has no problem with manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as the Manchester United midfielder struggles for game time at Old Trafford.
Matic has found himself out of United’s starting XI this season, with the 31-year-old making his first appearance off the bench last week.
An unused substitute in the opening three Premier League matches, Serbia international Matic played the final 22 minutes in United’s 1-1 draw at Southampton.
With Solskjaer preferring a central midfield duo of Paul Pogba and Scott McTominay, Matic’s future has been thrown into doubt.
Speaking ahead of Serbia’s Euro 2020 qualifier against Portugal on Saturday, Matic – who arrived from Chelsea in 2017 – told reporters: “In the first two or three games he determined the team without me.
“I work as hard as I can, we respect the decision, it is mine to show him that he was wrong and to bring me back to where I belong.
“There is no problem. I told him I disagreed with him, but that he had to decide the team.”
Matic added: “I have been in football for a long time, I have played almost all the games for all the clubs in the last 10 years.
“In order for me to play, one had to sit on the bench and accept that fact, and so do I now. The coach must opt for the team that will fight for the title, and if he does not win, he bears the responsibility.”
Matic is preparing to make his first Serbia appearance since the country’s 2-1 win over Montenegro in the UEFA Nationals League in November 2018.
Serbia welcome Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal to Belgrade with the Balkan nation third in Group B, six points behind leaders Ukraine and two clear of Saturday’s visitors.
There will also be a new head coach on the sidelines after Ljubisa Tumbakovic replaced Mladen Krstajic, who was sacked after June’s 4-1 rout of Lithuania following their 5-0 humiliation against Ukraine.
“We see every success as euphoric, and every failure as a tragedy,” Matic said. “We have such a mentality, temperament, it’s hard to change that.
“But now let’s go to the European Championships. It would be very important for our football, we haven’t been there for a long time. Finally, we connect two major competitions.”
Murray Kinsella joins Gavan Casey, Ryan Bailey and Sean Farrell with their immediate reaction to Ireland’s 31-man squad for the Rugby World Cup in Japan.
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