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FOOTBALL EUROPE: Jelić provides timely boost for Energie

/noticias.info/ Branko Jelić said his two goals in Saturday's 2-0 win against FC Bayern München would be the most important of his career provided FC Energie Cottbus stay up.

Jelić double
The side from the former East Germany provided the biggest upset of the weekend as they humbled the Bundesliga leaders on home soil, despite going into the game at the foot of the table. Serbian Jelić, who joined the club in January, scored both goals and said: "We played well, I scored two goals – that's great. These will be the most important goals of my career, but only if we can stay in the league."

Relegation favourites
Former FK Crvena Zvezda forward Jelić, who spent several seasons in Chinese football with Beijing Guoan FC, would not have played on Saturday had fellow winter signing Michal Papadopulos not picked up an injury. However, his goals lifted Energie out of the relegation zone and the club can now dream of avoiding the drop.

Full-blooded display
Coach Bojan Prašnikar was understandably thrilled with the way his side played against Bayern. "There was a lot of pressure on us today," said the former Slovenian international, who took over from Petrik Sander as Energie coach in September last year. "We went into every challenge with our heads and all of our hearts. The first goal gave us a big boost."

Hitzfeld shocked
Cottbus opened the scoring after 18 minutes and retained their lead as goalkeeper Gerhard Tremmel denied Franck Ribéry from the penalty spot after 29 minutes. Jelić doubled their advantage soon after, not that Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld was surprised. "We did pretty much everything you can do wrong," he said. "Right from the whistle we didn't go into challenges the way we should. We gave them too much space and time to create and we lost all the challenges in the first ten minutes. That's when I knew we were in for a difficult ride."

Bayern 'arrogance'
Goalkeeper Oliver Kahn, making his 550th Bundesliga appearance, has seen it all before and his view was typically forthright, saying that "if you play with that much arrogance, you lose". Bayern nevertheless remain five points clear at the top of the table, and will hope that their shock in Cottbus will fuel them to drive on towards the title. Energie, meanwhile, will be looking to upset the odds again as they did last season, and with the sides around them averaging less than a point a game, it may not take too many more shock results for them to survive. notas_de_prensa_archivo