Scepovic was the revelation of the 2013-14 season. He arrived from Partizan, on loan, and soon became the idol of sportinguismo: he scored in the first five days and in the seventh, against Eibar in El Molinón, he came away with a hat-trick. Scepovic was key for Sporting to qualify for the promotion play-off, although his scoring production waned in the final stretch of the season. He only scored two goals in the last ten days and did not score in any of the two games of the promotion, against Las Palmas. Sporting exercised the Stefan purchase clause, for one million euros, to immediately transfer him to Celtic of Glasgow for two and a half million, according to the Transfermarkt website.
Djurdjevic was the great bet of Miguel Torrecilla in his second season at the head of the sportinguista technical secretariat, to the point of paying two and a half million euros to the Greek Olympiacos for his signing in the summer of 2018. After a promising first campaign (11 goals in 38 games), Djuka was dragged by the bad feelings of the team last season, in which he only scored six in 37. Now he has 15 and, while waiting for today’s Espanyol game in Lugo, he is over by two goals to Raúl de Tomás in the fight for the top scorer in the category.
When explaining his scoring explosion, Djuka always puts the accent on the improvement of the team and also on the confidence of David Gallego. The Catalan coach was very clear from the beginning that Djurdjevic had to be his reference in the attack, ending his alternation with Álvaro Vázquez, and at this point he is the only member of the squad who has participated in the 24 league games. Long balls to Djuka are a solution when the rivals close all the exits for the rojiblanco team to bet on the combinatorial game.
In addition to the sporting aspect, Djuka is very comfortable in Gijón, so in 2019 he agreed to extend his contract with Sporting until June 30, 2023. The Serbian striker always says that his great professional goal is to achieve promotion and play in First with Sporting. With his goals it will be easier. For reference, on matchday 24 of the 2013-14 League, Scepovic had 17 goals. Of course, then the Sporting forward was completed with another Serbian, Lekic, who scored 12, while now, after Djuka, a desert auctioneer opens at Sporting: Gaspar Campos and Aitor García have scored two. And with one are Gragera, Pedro Díaz, Manu García, Álvaro Vázquez and Cumic, who opened his account on Saturday in Logroño.
Another hat trick with a Serbian accent almost eight years later
Goalscorer triplets at Sporting are sold very expensive. The last was the one that Sanabria achieved in the First Division against Real Sociedad. But it was almost eight years since a rojiblanco player with a Serbian accent had not taken the ball home after scoring a hat-trick. It was the one that Stefan Scepovic achieved on September 28, 2013, in a match against Eibar in El Molinón that ended with a 3-2 victory in Gijón. Much further you have to go for the last precedent of a triplet away from home. In this case the protagonist was a Croatian striker who was idolized by the fans, Mate Bilic, for his contribution to promotion in the 2007-08 season. At the start of the following campaign, at Sánchez Pizjuán, Bilic scored three goals in the first half (minutes 17, 19 and 45 from penalties). They did not serve to score: Sevilla ended up winning 4-3.
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