[6] The newborn was named after his maternal uncle Radomir "Rade" Brkić [sr], a notable World War II Partisan guerrilla fighter who was awarded the Order of the People's Hero gallantry medal for the engagement.
The squad was a fairly modest one without any really big names; the most notable players being the aging Spanish international midfielder Juan Señor and forward Miguel Pardeza who came up through Real Madrid's youth system as part of La Quinta del Buitre generation.
Real Madrid came calling in late March 1991 and Antić took over from club legend Alfredo Di Stéfano following los Merengues' elimination from the European Cup by Oleg Romantsev's Spartak Moscow at the quarter-final stage.
Still, the league situation would get downright critical the week after as Madrid was beaten 3–1 away at Luis Aragonés' relegation-battling Espanyol by conceding two late goals,[14] dropping los Merengues to the 10th spot in La Liga.
During the 1991 summer transfer window, Antić brought in Robert Prosinečki, prominent member of the Red Star Belgrade's 1991 European Cup-winning side, as well as promising 21-year-old Luis Enrique from Sporting de Gijón.
Antić's team began the season in furious fashion with five straight league wins, grabbing the La Liga top spot ahead of El Clásico on 19 October 1991.
One player especially excelled under Antić: twenty-three-year-old Hierro, normally a defender, was moved up further into midfield and responded by scoring in numbers, eventually ending the season on 21 league goals, the greatest single-season offensive output of his career.
During this three-match period without a league win, club president Ramón Mendoza opted to bring Leo Beenhakker into the organization in a vaguely defined sporting director role, though Antić remained the team's head coach.
At the time of Antić's termination, 19 league matches into the season, Madrid was holding the top spot in La Liga by a seven-point margin and was also smoothly through to the UEFA Cup quarter-finals, having eliminated Slovan Bratislava, Utrecht, and Neuchâtel Xamax in the previous rounds.
The move initially raised eyebrows with many questioning the usefulness of a complete unknown who is about to turn 29 years of age, however over the coming season, Pantić would prove himself to be the missing piece this team needed with key goals and assists.
Another key acquisition was the twenty-nine-year-old Bulgarian tall centre forward Luboslav Penev, brought in from Valencia despite questions about his health due to a recent bout with testicular cancer.
Other incoming transfers included goalkeeper José Francisco Molina and central defender Santi Denia from Albacete, midfielder Roberto Fresnedoso from Espanyol and young Argentine striker Leo Biagini from Newell's Old Boys, who starred at the 1995 FIFA World Youth Championship.
Playing in La Liga that had just expanded from 20 to 22 teams along with a new points system with three points awarded for a win, under Antić's command, the Atlético squad featuring Molina in goal, Delfí Geli and Santi Denia in central defence, Roberto Solozábal and Toni on right and left back respectively, Juan Vizcaíno (whom Antić previously coached at Zaragoza) and Caminero in centre midfield, Simeone and Pantić on right and left wing respectively, and finally Penev and Kiko upfront gelled together masterfully en route to a historic La Liga/Copa del Rey double in the 1995–96 season.
Still, the title wasn't secure until the very last week of fixtures, as Luis Aragonés' Valencia led by the Yugoslav striker Predrag Mijatović stayed in close pursuit until the end.
[25] Month and a half earlier Antić already claimed his first trophy of the season, beating Johan Cruyff's Barça in the Copa del Rey final in Zaragoza after extra time on a goal by Pantić.
Simultaneously playing on two difficult fronts proved to be much more demanding and the team quickly started lagging behind Real and Barcelona in La Liga, while in the Champions League they progressed to the quarter-finals on top of the group featuring Borussia Dortmund, Widzew Łódź and Steaua București.
Ahead of the 1997–98 season, Gil invested heavily into the team, bringing twenty-four-year-old Italian superstar striker Christian Vieri fresh from winning the Serie A title and reaching Champions League final with Juventus.
When Atlético got eliminated by Lazio at the UEFA Cup semi-final stage, Gil launched into an obscenity-laced tirade against Spanish television for reporting he has lined up an Italian coach to replace Antić.
Antić, however, managed to inspire the team all the way to 1999 Copa del Rey final at the freshly opened La Cartuja Stadium in Seville, where they lost heavily to Claudio Ranieri's Valencia, 0–3.
[31] After taking a year-and-a-half-long break from coaching, Antić took over Barcelona mid-season in late January 2003 on club president Joan Gaspart's initiative following the sacking of Louis van Gaal.
Additionally, Antić moved Xavi further up the field, just behind the line of forwards, thus freeing him up from the defensive duties he had under Van Gaal, which allowed the diminutive midfielder to fully showcase his creativity.
[52] Four days later, the team was away in Vienna to face Austria and again it put in an assured performance, scoring three goals within a ten-minute span during first half as shellshocked Austrians never managed to recover.
Antić's resolve to continue playing attacking football (with two strikers Žigić and Pantelić upfront as well as two offensively minded wingers Krasić and Milan Jovanović just behind them) paid off again as Serbia all but eliminated Romania from the running for top two spots.
In the run-up to the World Cup, out of the players Antić used in qualifying and subsequent friendlies, only the ageing defender Ivica Dragutinović and midfielder Boško Janković were ruled out through injury.
The World Cup training camp began with a gathering in Kovilovo on 24 May 2010 with all but one player showing up: captain Dejan Stanković was allowed to join the team in Austria directly due to playing the Champions League final for Inter two days prior.
Despite missing two regulars—Ivanović and captain Stanković—for the first preparation friendly in Klagenfurt against minnows New Zealand, the 0–1 loss was still shocking as lethargic Serbia playing in a 4–4–2 formation created very little offensively, with Antić giving each one of the 18 available outfield players a runout.
The final friendly before the World Cup, the so-called 'dress rehearsal', took place at home in Belgrade against Cameroon, and despite a 4–3 win, it came in nervous fashion as the Africans took the lead twice following lax Serbian defending.
In the lacklustre first half, neither team created much—with midfield motor Krasić, as well as Jovanović, completely taken out of the match by the Ghanaian pressure tactics of double-teaming the Serbian wingers in order to cut off the supply from the flanks.
Forced to chase the result for the remaining 5+ minutes, ten-man Serbia pushed forward in numbers in a desperate attempt of coming up with an equalizer thus leaving itself vulnerable to counterattack from quick Ghanaians and was extremely lucky not to go 0–2 down as Ghana hit the post in a one-on-one situation with goalkeeper Stojković.
Only a minute later, Krasić stormed down the right flank, overrunning Holger Badstuber in the process and looping a high ball into the middle where tall Žigić headed it down for Jovanović who blasted it past Manuel Neuer from close range.