Matic threatens quitting Serbia due to team-mates

Matt Stead

Nemanja Matic has threatened to quit international duty for Serbia, citing the “unacceptable attitude” displayed by his team-mates recently.

Serbia will not feature at Euro 2016, finishing fourth in their five-team group in qualifying, and they fell to a 4-1 friendly defeat to the Czech Republic on Friday.

It was that performance that saw Chelsea midfielder Matic express his dissatisfaction at his team-mates, who also failed to qualify for Euro 2012 and the 2014 World Cup.

“I always try to lead by example but some people don’t want to see that,” the 27-year-old midfielder told Serbian media.

“The attitude of some players is unacceptable, not just on the pitch but off it too, and it was obvious from the moment we got together on Monday.

“I told our coach [Radovan Curcic] there is no point in me carrying on with the national team if things don’t change.

“I’d really like to know whether some of my team-mates apply the same poor working ethic at their clubs as they do in the national team most of the time.”