GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany: Serbia coach Dragan Stojkovic said his side deserved more from a 1-0 defeat to England to open their Euro 2024 campaign on Sunday.
Enland have been tipped as one of the favourites for the tournament and made a dominant start in Gelsenkirchen as Jude Bellingham headed in the only goal after 13 minutes.
But Serbia responded strongly in the second half and Jordan Pickford was forced into a late save to deny Dusan Vlahovic.
"To have the English defending I'm very proud with how the players reacted," said Stojkovic.
"We haven't deserved to be defeated but it is what it is. We keep going on."
Stojkovic made a number of brave calls as captain Dusan Tadic was left on the bench and he then replaced Serbia's all-time top goalscorer Aleksandar Mitrovic when chasing an equaliser.
"We managed to get to where we wanted to get to some more chances," added Stojkovic, in defence of his decisions.
Next up Serbia face Slovenia in Munich before taking on Denmark in their final game in Group C.