The Croatian stable in Shakhtar (Srna, Pušić, Stanić) had a memorable debut on the bench during the Champions League match against Barcelona. This was just a few days after Pušić and Stanić sat on the bench of the champions of Ukraine.
Pušić assumed the role of head coach while Stanić took on the position of first assistant. Srna is the sports director at Shakhtar, but he sacrificed his place on the team and sat on the bench until a coaching solution was found.
The decision to take over as head coach came quickly for Mario Stanić, who made this decision with his heart. Everything happened very rapidly, and he didn’t even have time to think about it before taking over the team for their game against Barcelona.
Stanić and Srna have known each other since their time with the Croatian national team, and Dario Srna replaced Stanić in his position as right back. Stanić has known Dario for 30 years and played for him in that position during their time with the national team. He felt confident that Srna had a bright future ahead of him due to his technical skills and speed, which helped make his decision to leave that position to Srna much easier.
