Fulham players playing today

[SerbianLad]

7.45 UK time:

-Joachim Andersen: Denmark vs Portugal, Nations League quarter finals 1st leg.

-Saša Lukić: Austria vs Serbia, Nations League Division A/B relegation/promotion first leg.

Timothy Castagne: Ukraine vs Belgium, Nations League Division A/B relegation/promotion first leg.

Good luck to all of them, hopefully all play well and stay fit. If someone watches any of these games please comment below how they played. I'll obviously be watching Austria vs Serbia, but I'm interested in Castagne's and Andersen's performances too.

[SerbianLad]

Also here are parts of Lukic's pre-match interview that are related to Fulham, translated.

Interviewer:In the upcoming qualifiers you will be playing against England, against players you know really well. Did you already talk to your Fulham teammates about those games?

Lukić: Yes, we talked about it day after the draw was made. I can't believe we'll play against them again, after we were in the same group at EURO 2024. A lot of people from the club will probably be watching the game on Wembley.

Interviewer: Is Craven Cottage, in some ways more special than Wembley?

Lukic: To be honest, I haven't played at Wembley yet. We are up against Crystal Palace in the FA Cup quarter finals and if we win we'll play at Wembley. I hope we will beat them and then I'll play at Wembley and know what that feels like. Craven Cottage has something really special about it. We are the oldest club in London, a very historical club. Whenever I play at Craven Cottage, I have a feeling that the same people are coming every week to watch Fulham, I recognise some of them when I'm sitting on the bench. It's a very traditional club, a family club. The stadium really has something special about it.

Interviewer: You're playing really well this season. How much does it mean to you that you've been voted as Fulham's player of the month in February by the fans?

Lukic: Thankfully, I'm playing well this season so far, and even more importantly, the team is playing really well this season. When the team plays well, my qualities always shine more as well. I think i was already in top 4 in 3 or 4 other months, I'm not sure, but this is the first time I won it. It obviously gives me great satisfaction and it gives me even more confidence for the upcoming games. I need to continue to play at this level.

Interviewer: You're becoming a nightmare for Nikola Milenkovic, does he owe you a dinner for the two times you and Fulham defeated Nottingham Forest?

Lukic: He already paid for dinner in London after our previous game(laughing). I'm kidding, I paid for it, as  we were in London, so I was his host and I didn't let him pay for it. We beat them both times this season, but they are also playing really well this season. He's playing really well this season too. I hope we both get into Champions League this season, or at least another European competition. So far it has been a pretty good season for both clubs.

Interviewer: Did you hear fans chant your name in recent games. For example at Old Trafford in the cup. How much does that mean to you?

Lukic: Honestly, it means a lot to me. Although, if I'm being honest I didn't hear it on the pitch, as whenever I'm on the pitch I'm 100% focused on the game and I don't hear or think about anything else other than football. My friend was sitting with Fulham fans in the stands and he recorded it and showed me after the game. I heard it when I was being subbed off. It's a really nice feeling, especially when you're a foreigner playing in a league as good as that and in a huge country like England. It's really special. I'm glad they recognised that I'm giving my all, and I'm always trying really hard to repay them by giving my absolute all and then hopefully we can get a good result and they'll be happy at the end of the game.

Interviewer: Did you ever score two penalties in one penalty shootout and still lose the game, before the game against Preston?

Lukic: No. I've scored penalties before, but I never scored two penalties in the same shootout and lost the game. But anything can happen in penalties, it's a lottery. We maybe lost that game on penalties, but now we won in the FA Cup on penalties. We are in the FA Cup quarter finals now and let's see what will happen in the future.

Interviewer: Attackers often say Premier League is harder than Serie A, what do you think, as a midfielder? Is there a difference and which league is easier to play in?

Lukic: Honestly, there's a huge difference between Serie A and Premier League. Of course Serie A has some advantages too, but I think, at this moment in time, Premier League is much stronger than Serie A in all aspects of the game, intensity, tactics, technical quality, general quality of the players, speed, strength, everything is at a much higher level. And, honestly, it was much easier for me to play in Italy. But I've adapted to the Premier League now and I think that I'm improving by playing with and against better players than the ones in Serie A. Everyone who watches Premier League games and every who played here knows it's the best league in the world.

[Craven Mad]

That was a good read. Thanks for sharing.

Lukic has been super this season. He's really found his feet in the league, and has made himself an important part of our squad.

Seems like his head is in the right place and has a great attitude.

[Jim©]

He comes across as a very likeable bloke. I saw he was in the changing room in his civvies after the Spurs win, with a grin from ear to ear.
He's turned into the player we all wanted him to. A few less yellows would be handy!

[ffcthereligion]

With 9 games to go I wouldn't be looking far past him for player of the season, and I was a big critic early doors

[ffcne]

Lukic in the middle of our pitch.
Sung to the tune of Our House by Madness.
Suggs will be shaking his head. 
Being sung at Old Trafford

[AJW48361]

I think the Sale of JP had a massive effect on Lukic and he's performance's he now believes he now belongs in the side Definitely in the running for POTS.

[SerbianLad]

Lukic and Andersen both start. Castagne is apparently suspended.

[btffc]

Lukic and Andersen both start. Castagne is apparently suspended.

Fabulous news about Castagne

He definitely doesn't need to play two matches this week.

[SerbianLad]

Terrible watch this. Austria has been better but they've been pretty poor too. We parked the bus and created absolutely nothing.

Denmark game looks better, even if the result is 0-0. Looking at stats of that game it seems like there were more chances in that game.

[SerbianLad]

Lukic subbed with 10ish minutes to go. Came relatively close to scoring with his touch. A long ball over the top and he put pressure on the defender and Austria's keeper had to intervene. Considering how poor we've been, that was probably our 2nd best chance.

Played okay in general. Very disciplined defensively, didn't do much going forward, but neither did anyone else in our team pretty much. We parked the bus completely.

[Shredhead]

Thanks for posting  - fascinating.

[SerbianLad]

I see Denmark won 1-0 against Portugal, so he probably had a great game. Can someone confirm this, if anyone watched it.

[Nero]

Raul got 2 for Mexico against Canada

[SerbianLad]

Raul got 2 for Mexico against Canada

Superb news!

[SerbianLad]

Bassey and Iwobi play against Rwanda in the WC qualifiers today, at 4 pm UK time.

[fulhamfan]

please please please no injuries

[Southcoastffc]

I see Denmark won 1-0 against Portugal, so he probably had a great game. Can someone confirm this, if anyone watched it.

Sounds as if he did well:

Danish outlet B.T. rated the players after the memorable win, and they gave Andersen five out of six stars, writing: "When Joachim Andersen empties his pockets at Hotel Marienlyst tonight, there's a good chance a Portuguese football icon will fall to the floor. The Dane kept Cristiano Ronaldo in a tight bind – and was supreme in most of what he did."

[demeant0r]

I see Denmark won 1-0 against Portugal, so he probably had a great game. Can someone confirm this, if anyone watched it.

Sounds as if he did well:

Danish outlet B.T. rated the players after the memorable win, and they gave Andersen five out of six stars, writing: "When Joachim Andersen empties his pockets at Hotel Marienlyst tonight, there's a good chance a Portuguese football icon will fall to the floor. The Dane kept Cristiano Ronaldo in a tight bind – and was supreme in most of what he did."

A rating system out of six, that is just weird.

[ffcthereligion]

Bassey and Iwobi play against Rwanda in the WC qualifiers today, at 4 pm UK time.

Both played 90 minutes. Hopefully they don't play Tuesday haha