Brozovic is Croatia's midfield maverick who broke his own record
A love for beer and cigarettes, an obsession with NFTs and a celebration inspired by a viral photo with two women… Marcelo Brozovic is Croatia’s midfield maverick who broke his OWN record for the most distance covered ever in a game at a World Cup
- Croatia have reached the World Cup semi-finals after a shock victory over Brazil
- A key part of their success is their midfield trio of Modric, Kovacic and Brozovic
- Brozovic holds the record for the most distance covered in a World Cup game
- But, the Inter Milan midfielder enjoys an unconventional lifestyle off the pitch
- He has a love of beer and cigarettes, while he also has a trademark celebration
- Click here for the latest World Cup 2022 news, fixtures, live action and results
Croatia are never to be underestimated – despite having a population of just 3.87million, they are on the verge of their second successive World Cup final.
Zlatko Dalic’s side continue to show their determination and quality after their shock World Cup victory over Brazil on penalties on Friday continued their remarkable record at major tournaments.
Despite this being just their sixth World Cup, they have now reached the final four on three occasions.
Croatia reached the World Cup semi-finals after beating Brazil on penalties in a shock result
The midfield of Luka Modric, Mateo Kovacic and Marcelo Brozovic (pictured) are a big part of their success
Their two shootout victories in the knockout stage in Qatar over Japan and then Brazil come after after they reached the final in Russia four years ago through beating Denmark, Russia and England either after extra-time or on spot kicks.
A major part of their success is down to a world-class midfield, with Luka Modric, Mateo Kovacic and Marcelo Brozovic repeatedly showing their ability and consistency.
Modric has been highly-praised throughout a glittering career that has included five Champions League triumphs with Real Madrid, while Kovacic is seen performing for Chelsea in the Premier League each week.
Brozovic, who sits at the base of the Croats’ midfield, has also enjoyed an impressive career, currently shining at Inter Milan, but receives the least coverage of the trio.
However, the 82-capped international time and time again reaches new heights, as he broke his own World Cup record of the most distance covered by a player in their last-16 clash against Japan.
Brozovic covered an astonishing 16.7km over the 120 minutes – more than 10 miles – before also scoring his penalty.
Brozovic broke his own record of the most distance covered by a single player in a World Cup game when Croatia beat Japan with the midfielder covering an astonishing 16.7km
This was 400m more than the previous record – also held by Brozovic – during Croatia’s win against England in the semi-finals in Russia four years ago when he covered 16.3km.
Against Brazil, he was subbed off in the 114th minute, but he still managed to rack up 15.7km.
His unwavering stamina rightly makes you believe this is a finely-tuned athlete at the top of his game – but Brozovic lives a far from conventional life as a footballer.
Here, Sportsmail takes a look at the maverick midfielder and how he continues to excel despite his slightly controversial lifestyle.
Brozovic is a personality off the pitch and lives a far from conventional lifestyle of a footballer
Although he is arguably the fittest player at the World Cup, Brozovic is someone who has a love for alcohol and cigarettes.
He is known to celebrate big wins with a smoke and a beer. For example, after Croatia defeated France in the Nations League during the summer, Brozovic was snapped smoking a cigar in the Stade de France dressing room, with a bottle of beer by his side.
This came after he also was photographed with Inter Milan team-mate Alex Cordaz after the Nerazzurri’s Coppa Italia victory over Juventus in May – with Brozovic again enjoying a cigarette and a beer.
The midfielder is in his ninth season with Inter after playing for Hrvatski Dragovoljac, Lokomotiva and Dinamo Zagreb in his homeland and has racked up more than 300 appearances for the Italian giants.
However, his time at the San Siro has not been without incident, with Brozovic once storming off after being subbed during a Europa League clash with Hapoel Be’er Sheva in 2016, leading to then-Inter boss Frank de Boer exiling him from the squad.
Brozovic is known for his love of booze and cigarettes, regularly celebrating wins with them
During the 2017-18 season, he also sarcastically clapped fans after he was booed off following a poor performance against Bologna in Serie A – with the midfielder fined for the misdemeanour.
Then, in 2020, he was reprimanded by the club when he was banned for drink driving after being caught by police passing through a red light.
Similarly, during Euro 2020, Brozovic was pictured in his Croatia training kit buying cigarettes just hours before his country lost 5-3 to Spain after extra-time – raising questions over his lifestyle as an elite international footballer.
It’s not just the alcohol and cigarettes that cover the midfielder’s controversy, with Brozovic even reportedly at the centre of an affair with the wife of former Inter Milan team-mate Mauro Icardi – though these reports were denied by Wanda Icardi.
Brozovic also has several tattoos on his body, including the names of his two sons – Auroa and Rafael.
Brozovic has several tattoos on his body, including one of a cannon on the left-side of his neck
Brozovic has a tattoo on his hand which reflects his famous pose – Epic Brozo, and the midfielder celebrates every goal he scores with this specific gesture
But some are less wholesome than others with the cannon on his neck causing astonishment among his teammates upon its reveal. At the time, Ivan Perisic reportedly told Brozovic he had ‘outdone himself’.
He also has a specific tattoo on his right hand – an emoticon of a gesture of a hand on a chin, known as a ‘thinking face emoji’ – a pose that has become synonymous with Brozovic.
Whenever he scores, he poses with that celebration of his thumb on his chin and his index finger pointing up his cheek.
This comes from a snap the midfielder had uploaded years ago to Instagram. Brozovic was sitting in a car with two girls by his side and posed in that specific position – it caused a huge stir online at the time and rather than let the controversy affect him, Brozovic embraced it.
The pose has developed its own name – ‘Epic Brozo’ – which has become Brozovic’s brand and he has even copyrighted the term.
The 30-year-old subsequently opened up a bar in Velika Gorica, near to his birthplace of Zagreb, named ‘Epic Brozo’.
The pose originated from a controversial snap the midfielder uploaded to Instagram
Brozovic regularly displays the pose with team-mates who have adopted the gesture
The midfielder is a larger-than-life character off the pitch and a talented player on it
This bar, which is run by Brozovic, his father Ivan and his sister Ema, is known to be built around one of his major passions outside of football – darts – with the midfielder a big fan of the sport and particularly events held in the UK such as the PDC World Darts Championship.
Back on the pitch, Brozovic has also become synonymous for a trademark trick known as ‘The Crocodile’.
This was first seen back in 2018 and seems a precursor to the now regular ‘draft-excluder’ – when a player lies beneath the wall from a free-kick to ensure the defence can still jump and they won’t be caught out if the player puts their effort along the ground.
In a clash with Barcelona, Luis Suarez was seen lining up a free-kick and as he went to take it, Brozovic launched himself to the ground and blocked the ball after the wall had jumped and Suarez tried to catch out Inter.
The ‘Epic Brozo’ brand is trademarked by Brozovic and he even opened a bar with that name
This move was adopted as ‘The Crocodile’ and later that year, Brozovic posed for Halloween tongue in cheek in a crocodile onesie and displayed his trademark goal celebration at the same time.
To make matters even more bizarre in the story of Brozovic, he is also a huge NFT enthusiast, with the midfielder regularly tweeting about his desire to purchase the tokens.
In fact, his Twitter bio reads: ‘Marcelo Brozovic, football player and cryptocurrency evangelist,’ while his handle is @brozocrypto.
Despite his larger-than-life personality on and off the pitch, Brozovic’s fitness and quality is unwavering and it would be no surprise to see him put in another supreme display against Argentina, despite having played 234 minutes of football over the past week.
Brozovic is a self-confessed enthusiast for NFTs as demonstrated on his Twitter profile
Brozovic poses in his crocodile onesie back in 2018 with his trademark goal celebration
The Inter Milan star was recreating his famous sliding free-kick block used against Barcelona
Brozovic again posing by the pool with his trademark gesture in his ‘Crocodile’ position
Although his last start for his club ahead of the World Cup was in mid-September due to a hamstring injury, Brozovic has shown no signs off rustiness in Qatar.
For this is a man, as described by his father in an interview in his homeland, as reported by Marca, with an unwavering determination to succeed despite his numerous off-field activities.
‘He has always been a boy who persists, who works hard and sacrifices himself. He had to take his place, and he did, Marcelo, in addition to his talent, has great willpower and that makes the difference,’ Ivan Brozovic said.
A Lionel Messi-inspired Argentina no doubt head in to Tuesday’s semi-final as favourites, but few would put it past Dalic’s side causing another upset, with Brozovic’s midfield partner Modric insisting the underdog nature is something that they embrace.
‘Everyone looks at the big countries, as we are a small country, nobody takes us into account, but we don’t have a problem with that, as others are the favourites, and we are in the shadows,’ the 37-year-old told Spanish TV show El Chiringuito ahead of the clash with Lionel Scaloni’s side.
Brozovic may have been in the shadows of his midfield colleagues on the pitch, but his uninhibited personality has ensured he has taken many headlines off it.
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