Nikola Milenkovic embodies exactly what Nuno Espírito Santo demands: he gives him steel and intensity

In the Bernabeu tunnel in Madrid, Kevin Keegan – then playing for Hamburg – greeted Larry Lloyd and Nottingham Forest’s Kenny Burns as the two teams prepared for the 1980 European Cup final.

Burns responded by taking out his false teeth and letting out an almost guttural growl.

As her former Forest teammate Garry Birtles said in an interview with in 2019 The athlete: “Few strikers had any desire to face Kenny or Larry… (Kenny’s reaction in the tunnel) was a sign of what was to come.”

As Nikola Milenkovic stood in line at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge on Sunday, waiting for the teams’ traditional pre-match handshake, there was a feeling that Forest might have signed another player with that intimidating presence to fill Lloyd’s shoes , Burns and later Stuart Pearce.

While others around him shuffled from one foot to the other on either side, the Serb stood with his hands folded and his chest thrust out, barely moving. His frozen gaze, looking straight ahead, didn’t waver until the handshakes began.

“He’s just a warrior, he’s a leader. “He is the captain of his country – and he is exactly what you would expect,” said Forest midfielder Ryan Yates when asked by The athlete about Milenkovic.

Forest conceded 23 set-piece goals without penalties in the 2023/24 Premier League. They were by far the most in the division, followed by relegated Luton Town with 19. This was one of the main reasons why Milenkovic was high on their list of targets in the summer.

Milenkovic won 79.9 percent of his aerial duels for Fiorentina in Italy’s Serie A last season, with only Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk (81.4) winning a higher percentage in Europe’s top five leagues (among players with at least 100). played games). This rate was over 70 percent in six of his seven seasons with the Florence club – strong evidence that he can put his 196 cm (6 ft 5 in) height to good use.

It’s still early, seven games into the Premier League season, but Milenkovic has won 74.1 percent of his 27 aerial duels since joining Forest, the eighth best rate in the top flight. The player with the best rate is his Forest teammate Neco Williams at 88.9 percent, although this is due to a relatively small number of eight headed goals (from nine duels) won by the Wales international.

Forest have conceded just one set-piece goal in those seven games and have scored three goals from corners or free kicks, including Chris Wood’s opener that helped earn a deserved point on Sunday when the New Zealand international headed the ball home from Milenkovic’s header from a free kick James Ward Prowse.

Overall, Forest have the second best defensive record in the division with six goals conceded. Only Liverpool (two) have conceded fewer goals than them. It’s a positive start to the new season.

Their success is not just down to Milenkovic – the regular back four, which also includes Ola Aina, Murillo and Alex Moreno, form a promising unit, while head coach Nuno Espirito Santo has made tactical adjustments to ensure that his team only allows few chances , even when the going gets tough. The work starts at the beginning.

“We are stronger as a team this season. We were able to press much better in the higher areas of the pitch. We defended the penalty area well,” said Nuno, appointed last December following the sacking of Steve Cooper, when asked about Forest’s defensive improvement in his pre-Chelsea press conference. “That it’s not about the individual. As a team we can cover more space.

“Since the end of last season, the commitment has been to improve this aspect. There is no way to play in the Premier League unless you are solid, compact and strong defensively. The team performs well defensively, primarily because of the hard work of the players, their resilience and their willingness to put their bodies in front of the ball.”

Milenkovic, who turns 27 this weekend, embodies these qualities. Despite being a no-nonsense, old-school defender, he has only conceded three free-kicks and not seen a yellow card in his six appearances for Forest. He defends robustly but cleanly.

He was also brought in because it was felt he could be a good partner for Murillo, who is comfortable in possession, has the passing range of a midfielder and likes to venture forward. While it is still too early to draw comparisons to players like Burns and Lloyd during the club’s glory days, they have the traits to make a formidable pair.

“He’s vocal, he’s solid, he’s compact… he fits well with Murillo,” Nuno said. “Relationships are so important…the way they communicate with each other. We are pushing this aspect very hard in all areas of the pitch. They need complicity. Being vocal helps. We want our players to be vocal. Nikola is a loud guy, so he helped us with that.”

Milenkovic watched the Premier League regularly while playing in Italy, so he was aware of the problems he was asked to sign to help Forest solve – most notably weakness from set pieces.

“Defense is the responsibility of the entire team, so the entire team has to be organized,” he said when asked The athlete about the team formation. “Set pieces are an important part of football. We train on it every day and want to improve. But it’s important that the whole team is organized.”

Milenkovic is encouraged by the partnership he has formed with Murillo – and believes it will only get stronger the more games they play together.

“Things happen in a second or two and you have to make quick decisions, so you have to know your partner and how they think,” says Milenkovic. “You have to know what he’s going to do and be comfortable with him. It’s important that the entire back four or five think alike.”

Milenkovic, who speaks softly but has an intensity about him, says that moving to England was a big challenge, but that it was something he had always wanted. He grew up playing football on the streets in his native Serbia, at a time when the Balkan war of the 1990s was not yet too far away. Like millions of children around the world, he dreamed that football could offer him a way out.

“Every day was a hard time. But hard times make hard people,” says Milenkovic, still wearing the Serbia jersey bearing the name of former Manchester United center back Nemanja Vidic – his idol – that he wore on the street during those games.

Milenkovic hopes to follow in Vidic’s footsteps and shine in the Premier League. He is also proud to follow in his hero’s footsteps in another way – by captaining his country, which he did for the first time in a goalless draw against new European champions Spain in Belgrade last month.

“It was an emotional moment,” he says. “I knew what it meant to my family.”

On the training pitch, Milenkovic’s mentality is just as determined as it is on a match day. He is an extremely professional character.

“His quality and the way he worked with us shows that he is focused, determined and does very well in competition,” said Nuno. “He’s always trying to do better every day and that’s the spirit we want.”

(Top photo: Michael Regan/Getty Images)