Lalatović came through the youth system of Red Star Belgrade. He also spent a few seasons on loan at OFK Beograd, Radnički Kragujevac and Milicionar, before returning to Red Star Belgrade and becoming one of the team's most regular players in the early 2000s. Before moving abroad in the 2003 winter transfer window, Lalatović was named captain and made over 100 competitive appearances, winning four major domestic trophies with the Crveno-beli. In January 2003, Lalatović was transferred to Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk on a three-year deal. He failed to make an impact with the club, being loaned to VfL Wolfsburg in early 2004. After returning to Donetsk, Lalatović made a couple of appearances for the club in the title-winning 2004–05 season. He later received a one-year ban from the Ukrainian FA for assaulting the referee after a game between Shakhtar-2 and Zorya Luhansk in October 2005. In the 2006 winter transfer window, Lalatović returned to his homeland and joined Zemun. He spent six months with the Gornjovarošani, before switching to OFK Beograd. Following the 2006–07 season, Lalatović retired from professional football, aged 29.
After serving as an assistant to Miloš Veselinović, Lalatović took charge of Srem in April 2011. He subsequently served as manager of Proleter Novi Sad for the next two years. In June 2013, Lalatović replaced Aleksandar Janjić at the helm of Voždovac. He eventually switched to Napredak Kruševac in January 2014. On 23 June 2014, it was announced that Lalatović will be the new manager of Red Star Belgrade. He signed a one-year deal with an option for two more seasons. On 24 May 2015, after the final game of the 2014–15 season, Lalatović became unattached. On 29 June 2015, Lalatović was officially presented as manager of Borac Čačak. He led the club to a best-ever start to a league season by placing second after the initial 17 rounds. On 10 November 2015, Lalatović parted ways with Borac Čačak due to unpaid wages and bonuses to his players. On 11 November 2015, Lalatović was appointed manager of Vojvodina until the end of the 2015–16 season. He extended his contract with the club for one more year on 11 June 2016. However, Lalatović terminated his contract with the club by mutual consent on 17 December 2016. On 26 December 2016, Lalatović became manager of Čukarički, penning a four-year contract. He resigned from the position in May 2018, after failing to earn a spot in the UEFA Europa League. During his time at Čukarički, Lalatović also served as manager of the Serbia national under-21 team at the 2017 UEFA U-21 Championship. On 4 June 2018, Lalatović was named as new manager of Radnički Niš. On 21 June 2019, Lalatović was appointed as new manager of Vojvodina for the second time in his managerial career. On 24 June 2020, beating Partizan on penalties, Vojvodina won the 2019–20 Serbian Cup, which was Lalatović's first trophy as manager.
Criticism
In a July 2019 interview for fkvojvodina.rs, Lalatović's inability to work with foreign players became clear. Until then, during his coaching career, he was notorious for hiring strictly domestic players and releasing as many as foreign ones as he could. One of the reasons was his lack of knowledge of foreign languages, as he speaks only Serbian and Russian, thus being unable to communicate with players who speak other languages. When confronted with the issue during the interview, he made an effort to shift the blame to the foreign players, accusing them of laziness due to the fact that salaries were being received late. Curiously, all other coaches face the same problems and don't have the conflicts with foreign players that Lalatović has, so it seemed a cheap excuse. He went on to claim that had nothing against foreign players, but that they "need to be much more better than a domestic player" for him to respect them equally as he does domestic ones.
