“When I think about the fact that I won’t wear Inter’s shirt again I have tears in my eyes.” The quote comes from Dejan Stankovic, and just as Ben Boucher wrote earlier in his editorial Deki didn’t stop there:
“It’s been an honour to wear these colours and they will always remain on my skin. I’ll never remove them; nobody can ever remove them”.
Today Inter will play their first game for the season 2013/2014. Before the game Dejan Stankovic will be thanked by the supporters and even though his last season was full of injuries and that he didn’t play a lot, everybody knew what player Deki was when he played:
“The one who impressed me the most on the practice was surely Dejan Stankovic”, said Lorenzo Crisetig after his first pre-season camp with the first team when everybody expected the young lad to answer Eto’o or Sneijder. A sentence that sums up everything that Dejan Stankovic is on and off the field. A fighter and a champions whose career speaks for itself, but also a man with a big heart for the club that he won everything with. When Dejan Stankovic is going to bid farewell in front of the supporters who love him, on the stadium where he conquered the hearts of everyone, it is up to the players representing Inter 2013/2014 not only to honor the colors, the shirt and the fans they represent, but they also need to honor Dejan Stankovic.
Many tears will be shed, and most probably the one who’ll be most sad is Stankovic himself. Who knows how much he would’ve wanted to be on that field as a player, with his body filled to the maximum with adrenaline and the heart of a dragon. Who knows how much he would’ve wanted to enter the field another time in a derby to play an incredible game against Milan, like he always did. Because when it was time for the derbies Deki guaranteed all his best, all his pride and all his heart and soul to win the game. The people who should know and think about what Dejan Stankovic wants, and how he would’ve played are the ones who are going to represent Inter tonight and during the 2013/2014 season.
We want 11 Dejan Stankovic. We want to see players who fight, honor the shirt they wear and put their hearts in it. Not only tonight, but for the whole season.
Thank you for everything Dejan.