Danilo Doncic: "Every member of Valletta has to do his job at the highest level"

Domenic Aquilina Saturday, 18 August 2018, 11:29 Last update: about 7 years ago

Danilo Doncic has been at the helm of Valletta since December 2017. Photo: Domenic Aquilina

As BOV Premier League champions Valletta prepare to make their bow into the local football season against Sliema Wanderers, The Malta Independent spoke with the Citizens' head coach, Serbian Danilo Doncic to talk about Valletta's main objectives this coming season and more.

Valletta go into the new season as local defending champions. What responsibilities does this title carry both for you and for the team in relation to the forthcoming season?

Every member of Valletta FC carries the responsibility to do his job at the highest level due to the fact that the objectives of this big club are simply big!

As head coach myself, I carry probably the biggest burden of them all - that of repeating last season's double winning successes.

Are you happy with the actual Valletta squad you have at your disposal for the coming season?

"The majority of players which made the Valletta squad and played most of the matches last season still very much make an important part of our actual squad. As you know we signed two very excellent foreign players, Italian Mario Fontanella and Romanian Bogdan Gavrila and welcomed back local goalkeeper Yenz Cini. I do believe that in order to have more competition in the team we have got to strengthen our squad in every department, thus we have more competition and even a strong bench (substitutes) as well."

What were the qualities Valletta had last season that your big title rivals Balzan did not have?

Very simple, it is called Team Work.

Valletta's performances earlier on in UEFA Club competitions this season were very encouraging - yet two cases of so near and yet so far. What went wrong?

I do believe that we lacked luck and more experience in competitive matches at European level.

What will be the main objectives for the Maltese champions this season?

As always to lift the BOV Premier League trophy!

After an esteemed playing career which saw him don the jerseys of a host of former Yugoslavia sides from 1989 to 1994 including that of FK Beograd, Doncic arrived in Malta to join his actual club Valletta, moving on to Bulgaria's Lokomotiv Sofia in Bulgaria, Portugal's Imortal DC and back to Malta with Sliema Wanderers.

Doncic made his mark in Malta from 1994 to 1997 with Valletta where he landed the unprecedented "grand slam" of six trophies won in 2000-01.

He hang up his playing boots with Sliema at the age of 37 with a haul of 196 matches and 151 goals scored in Malta's top flight division.

The Serbian soon moved on to coaching with a host of local and foreign clubs including San Gwann, Floriana, Lokomotiv Sofia (ass coach), Sliema, Tarxien, Mosta, and St. Andrews before moving on to Al-Najma in Bahrain. His next destination was Cyprus with Ethnikos Achnas before embarking with the St. Andrews coach position again back in Malta. Doncic joined Valletta in December of 2017 taking over from compatriot Zoran Popov.

Argentine Santiago Malano played an instrumental figure in Valletta's "double" winning season. Photos © Domenic Aquilina

The Malano factor

TMI also had a word with Valletta's Argentine midfielder Santiago Malano ahead of the new season. Malano was in top early form during the initial preliminary and first qualifying round of both the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League - hailed by even opposing coaches during these matches.

The 31-year-old soft-spoken modest Argentine born in Mercedes, Argentina joined Valletta in July 2016 from Rangers Talca, a Chilean club after spending the previous two seasons with Deportes Temuco but found it hard to command a regular first team place with Valletta upon his arrival.

The talented midfielder with the elegant stride brushed all this away and is now one of the key factors of this Valletta side.

This is what Malano had to say:

"Very often players signing for a new club need to adapt themselves with time, and this happened to me. I could not really show my full potential.

"I shrugged this off and everything changed during my second year.

"I was assigned a defined role and this lasted all year without any problems.

"I felt good and confident playing and gained confidence throughout all season and very much part of this big club.

"I even scored some important goals and as you know the rest is history.

"We achieved our main objectives as a team with excellent teamwork.

"Our main objective this coming season is to repeat what we have achieved in the 2017-2018 season, in other words God willing to again win the title crown and win the Trophy again"