Milica Mijatovic's plan was simple: Win the W-League Grand Final with Melbourne City on Saturday, then fly home to Serbia on Sunday. But things didn't go to plan.
Mijatovic won the W-League championship on March 21 but, unlike her foreign teammates, she didn't get to fly home as Serbia closed its borders and airports due to the coronavirus pandemic, leaving her stuck in Melbourne for the foreseeable future.
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"The morning of the Grand Final, I'd already got some news about possible border [closures] and the airports shutting," Mijatovic told AAP.
"But we still waited until Sunday to see if anything changed but on Sunday morning I found out that it was impossible to fly out from here."
Despite the distraction of her travel uncertainty, Mijatovic -- who scored five goals and provided two assists across 14 games -- was able to finish City's unbeaten W-League season with a premiership-championship double following the Grand Final win over Sydney FC.
"We'd had a really good season and we were all eager -- and I was eager -- to play the final and to complete the season," she said.
"It would have been such a strange feeling after playing the whole season unbeaten, waiting for the Grand Final [to] not play it -- so I'm grateful that we got a chance to play it."
While disappointed at being unable to secure a flight home, Mijatovic has made the best of a bad situation.
City have looked after the Serbia international throughout her prolonged stay, paying for her accommodation and maintaining her access to a club fitness facility, where she has trained with local teammate Tyla-Jay Vlajnic.
"I've been training with TJ -- there's only two of us allowed to train at the same time," Mijatovic said.
"And I have a few friends and family friends from Melbourne, they actually live close to me so I've been getting support from them as well.
"I've been getting really big support from the club. Our sports director and team manager are making sure I'm safe and everything's fine."
The club's support has eased the minds of Mijatovic's family in Serbia, whom she has spoken to "at least twice a day" in recent weeks.
The 28-year-old remains hopeful of getting home in the coming days, with the Serbian embassy exploring the possibility of securing citizens an evacuation flight out of Doha.
But until then, she's content to pass the time in Melbourne.