After the disastrous journey of the Montenegrin, Stefan Savic, through the Premier League; Manchester City relied on the young Serbian, Matija Nastasic, to fill his gap in the centre-back position. Nastasic proved to be Savic´s antithesis: he not only excelled in defending tasks, but also contributed to the blues with great passing technique and perfect understanding of the game that made him the ideal companion of Vincent Kompany. Throughout the year, Matija earned himself a place in the starting XI with great performances, but among all of them, one has to highlight his special game against Real Madrid at the Etihad.
Having a debut day at the Bernabeu, Matija had the complex task of depleting Madrid´s offensive game primarily composed of Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo. Nastasic had an outstanding game: he precisely delivered every pass, won every aerial challenge, made a goal-line clearence, and won a one-to-one duel against Ronaldo. However, his personal effort was not enough and City disdainfully just managed to snatch their visitors one point at their home fixture.
The ill-formed performance of the team clashed with Nastasic´s impressive appearence. On that day, the nineteen year old came of age, or in the blues´ vernacular language, achieved citizenship. Matija will keep honing his skills in the Premier League; the apotheosis of Nastasic is about to unfold.
