Ex-Premier League striker finally finds the net in continental competition, after a ludicrously long wait
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Stevan Jovetic has found the net more than 150 times during his career – but he finally ended a 14-year goal drought on Thursday night.
The Montenegrin was tipped for big things early in his playing days, after emerging through the system at Partizan Belgrade, incredibly becoming the club's captain at just 17 years old.
Jovetic would help the club win the Serbian league title that same season, and also bagging his first goals in European competition – four in two games against Zrinjski Mostar in the UEFA Cup.
He soon earned a big move to Italy with Fiorentina, where he continued his progress, scoring against Sporting to help La Viola reach the Champions League group stage in 2009.
Once there, Jovetic netted both goals in a 2-0 victory over Liverpool at the Stadio Artemio Franchi, as Fiorentina won the group and the Reds were eliminated. He then repeated the feat in a 3-2 home win over Bayern Munich in the last 16 in March 2010, even if the Germans progressed on away goals.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Until Thursday though, incredibly those were Jovetic's last goals in European competition, even though he continued to score in domestic games and has found the net 34 times for Montenegro during his career.
Fiorentina didn't qualify for continental competition in any of his last three seasons at the club, before he moved to Manchester City for around £22m in 2013. The move didn't entirely work out – Jovetic scored only 11 goals across two campaigns, not selected for a single Champions League game during his first season, then not getting on the scoresheet in five appearances during the second season.
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Subsequent moves to Inter, Sevilla and Monaco again brought just four further appearances for him in European competition, and no goals, before he headed to Hertha Berlin, and then joined Olympiacos this season.
Seven more continental appearances this term again brought no goals, taking his drought in Europe to 14 years and 16 matches, until he finally found the net on Thursday as the Greek side defeated Robbie Keane's Maccabi Tel Aviv 6-1 in the Conference League, to prevail 7-5 on aggregate in an extraordinary tie.
Coming on as a substitute, the 34-year-old struck Olympiacos' fifth goal in extra time, sending them into the quarter finals.
Chris joined FourFourTwo in 2015 and has reported from more than 20 countries, in places as varied as Ivory Coast and the Arctic Circle. He's interviewed Pele, Zlatan and Santa Claus (it's a long story), as well as covering the World Cup, AFCON and the Clasico. He previously spent 10 years as a newspaper journalist, and completed the 92 in 2017.
