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Serbia national football team
World Cup Qualifying - Europe | Group Stage
Jun 11, 2017 at 7.45pm UK
 
Wales national football team

1-1

Mitrovic (73')
FT(HT: 0-1)
Ramsey (35' pen.)

Chris Coleman haunted by Serbia memories ahead of return trip

Wales manager Chris Coleman opens up on his pain of falling to a 6-1 loss in his first competitive away game in charge, as he prepares for his latest trip to Serbia.

Chris Coleman has admitted that he will never fully get over Wales's hammering at the hands of Serbia, as he prepares to take his side back to the Baltic state.

The Dragons fell to a 6-1 loss in Coleman's first competitive away game in charge five years ago, leading to calls for the ex-Fulham boss to step down.

Coleman has since transformed his nation's fortunes, guiding them to a first major tournament finals in more than five decades last year, but ahead of Sunday's World Cup qualifier against Serbia in Belgrade he is still haunted by his previous visit.

"As soon as I got off the plane I felt it," he told reporters. "It was only a reccie but I had butterflies in my stomach. I thought 'Here we go again, I remember this place'.

"I can't say this is another game in the group because it's not for more than one reason. And one of the reasons is that. I suffered there, we suffered there - and it was my fault. That will never leave me. I think it would be like that if I went back to Belgrade with my wife for the weekend!

"You go to these places and it's almost like a stage in the game where there's a power play. All of a sudden, from wherever it comes, the crowd start getting really rowdy. The opposition up the tempo for five or 10 minutes and they bombard you. You stand up to it or you duck it. There's no third option. This will come in Belgrade and you need to answer those questions, physically, mentally and tactically."

Serbia are expecting their biggest crowd in 10 years for this weekend's showdown, with 40,000 expected at the Rajko Mitic Stadium.

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