Returning heroes boost Serbia

Serbia's quartet of senior internationals have arrived at the Under-21 training camp in Novi Sad and coach Miroslav Djukić believes their experience will be a major boon at the fast approaching UEFA European U21 Championship.

Rukavina debut
Miloš Krasić, Boško Janković and Antonio Rukavina all featured in Serbia's UEFA EURO 2008™ qualifier in Finland on Saturday, with RCD Mallorca midfielder Janković opening the scoring and FK Partizan right-back Rukavina making his full debut in the 2-0 win. It was a performance that drew admiring glances back home, not least from the watching Djukić. "I am delighted with how they played and I am really satisfied with their form," he said. "Those players, together with Branislav Ivanović, Dušan Basta and Dejan Milovanović, are the most experienced in our squad and their form is very important to the team."

Tactical practice
Midfielder Stefan Babović might also have featured on that list but was ruled out of the Finland game with a stomach problem, from which he has since recovered. He is unlikely, however, to be available when Serbia play a warm-up match against club side FK Novi Sad on Wednesday. "I want to see what the players can do from a tactical point of view," Djukić said. "That is what we want to take from the match, so I will give them all a chance and I think they will be up for it." Serbia get their finals campaign under way against Group B rivals Italy in Nijmegen on Monday.