Dejan Damjanovic & Guoan

Dejan Damjanovic: "I wanted to stay at Guoan! I played for Guoan for one and half seasons and it was unbelievable."

In an exclusive interview, Dejan Damjanovic, now the highest scorer in Asian Champions League history, talks about his brief but memorable stay in the Chinese Super League.

Damjanovic, is synonymous with Asian football and has been a fan favourite wherever he has played including his brief stint with giants, Beijing Guoan. He has also played in the K-League with Incheon when we interviewed him previously and FC Seoul. He is now with Kitchee in Hong Kong.

"Playing in the Chinese Super League for Beijing Guoan was one of the best two years in my life. It was unbelievable! I started out at Jiangsu in 2014 and played there for six months. But I could not agree with the coach at that time so the best decision for the club and me at the time was to find a different option so not to make further problems for the team and me. Luckily Beijing came and I played for Guoan for one and half seasons. It was unbelievable"

Damjanovic said his family also loved the big game atmosphere.

"I enjoyed it so much and not only me but also my family and the fans and the life there and games at the Workers Stadium were unbelievable. After a while, I felt like as a football player, you are truly coming onto the 'stage' at the stadium."

All the fans were in green and in-front of the stadium, you can see parents and kids all in green and in jerseys with your name. The fans see the team bus and then all the fans are cheering and the fans even followed us on five hour flights to away games. The support was unbelievable!"

Damjanovic was keen to stay with Guoan as he realised the team had great potential and could compete with the best.

"I wanted to stay at Guoan and I said to the team 'I don't want to change teams'. I like it here and my family likes it here though the team wanted to bring in new foreign players. The two season were really good for Guoan as we nearly won the CSL and secondly, we qualified from the then 2015 Champions League Group Stage which had teams like Suwon Bluewings and Urawa Reds and then we faced Jeonbuk in the round of 16 who were incredible."

Damjanovic is someone who wears his heart on his sleeve and this attitude has always made him a fan favourite and the feeling is always mutual.

"Back then I scored multiple goals and my life was great and I wanted to stay but they wanted new players and wanted fresh blood. After that, I did not want to go to other teams in China after my time at Guoan and that level of experience there.

Everyone was looking after me and my family, from people in shops to street vendors. When you are playing for Guoan and you are playing well then you are a god! Whatever you want…it is ok and given to you and I never heard anything bad from the fans. When things are this positive then I wanted to stay but I didn't and I went back to Seoul which is like my 'house' anyway."