Rueful Rep retains sense of perspective

His team might have bowed out of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship in sobering fashion but Slovenia captain Rajko Rep has thoroughly enjoyed himself in Ukraine.

'Positive feelings'
The midfielder missed the opening match, an impressive goalless draw with the hosts, through suspension, but was back in the side that faced Switzerland. Two late goals condemned Slovenia to a 2-1 defeat and turned the tide of their campaign, which ended with a 7-1 loss at the hands of England, but Rep remains upbeat. "Playing at a European Championship is something every young player wants to achieve in his career," he told uefa.com. "I only have positive feelings about being here, despite the results."

Pleasing aspects
In spite of those defeats, Rep believes that Slovenia showed considerable improvement during the finals. "It was very hard for me to see the players battling against Ukraine, because it was a very tough match, and not be able to help them," he said. "In a way I didn't want to watch; it's really hard to watch a match you're not able to play in. Switzerland were a very good team with great individual players and we showed that we can match teams like that. Although we're not happy with the results, in some ways we definitely improved from the first game. We passed the ball better and put some good moves together, so that's very pleasing."

'Fight all the time'
Slovenia trailed England 5-0 at half-time in their final fixture, but their heads did not drop in the second period and Dejan Dimitrov swiftly pulled a goal back – a moment Rep feels summed up their spirit. "It's in our character to fight all the time. When we play for the national team, we try to achieve as much as we can with running and fighting. Slovenian teams fight a lot, it's our way of achieving results. We went into each match looking to win, that's our mentality, and we're happy with what we've achieved."

Bright future
Slovenia had not qualified for a youth finals since the 1997 European U16 Championship, and Rep is hopeful this success can herald a new dawn. "For my team and country it's a really big success," he said. "We're a very small country and don't qualify for final tournaments regularly. Everyone at home has been following and supporting us. A few players from here will step up to the Under-21 squad and if this generation stays together we will achieve big things, especially when we're one or two years older."

Captain's role
Rep's immediate future lies at NK Celje, where he has just been appointed first-team captain, echoing his U19 role. "It's been a great honour for me to be captain of a team that qualified for the European Championship," he said." It's been my privilege to guide my team through this tournament. I'm not the type of player to shout a lot, I try to lead by example, to motivate the players before the match and lift their spirits afterwards if the game doesn't go our way. Being here will give me more confidence on the pitch and help me be a better captain to guide some of the players who've not been involved in a European Championship or played at this level. I'll be able to share my experiences."