I love a sportsman/larrikan story.

[El Presidente]

 

Croatia star sets new standards at World Cup 2022 despite love of booze and cigarettes

 

Croatia star Marcelo Brozovic lives a far from conventional life as a footballer but that hasn't stopped him excelling on the pitch throughout the World Cup in Qatar

Croatia's Marcelo Brozovic has run further than any other player for the second World Cup running - despite his love for cigarettes and alcohol.

Brozovic, 30, likes to celebrate important victories with a smoke and a beer - but his vices don’t seem to be slowing him down. In fact, he’s running even longer distances. The Inter Milan midfielder clocked an impressive 17.7 kilometres during his country’s penalty shoot-out victory over Japan.

That is further than any other player in the tournament - and 400 metres more than he managed when setting the standard at the last World Cup in Russia when Croatia ended England’s dream after a semi-final that went to extra-time. Brozovic does all the heavy lifting for Croatian playmakers Luca Modric and Mateo Kovacic.

While they ran out of energy against the livewire Japanese, Brozovic kept going to the very end - and still had enough energy to score a penalty as his team prevailed in the shoot-out. Brozovic makes no secret about his enjoyment of a fag and a pint.

He was pictured smoking a cigar in the Stade de France dressing room after Croatia beat France for the first-ever time in the summer. And when Inter overcame Juventus to lift the Coppa Italia a few weeks earlier, he was happy to be photographed sitting with team-mate Alex Cordaz having a cigarette and a bottle of lager.

Brozovic has a generous nature that has seen him donate textbooks to schools in Croatia as well as paying for a Macedonian woman to undergo a hip operation despite never meeting her. But his habits aren’t always well received.

Two years ago, he was fined by Inter after being banned for drink driving when police spotted him running a red light. And when he was filmed in his training kit buying packets of smokes from a shop just a few hours before Croatia were beaten 5-3 after extra-time by Spain at the Euros in June 2021, questions were asked whether an elite athlete should be imbibing tobacco and booze.

But Brozovic’s fitness levels are one of the keys to Croatia’s success. He has played 81 times for his country during a career than saw him star for HK Hrvatski, Lokomotiva and Dinamo Zagreb in his homeland before moving to Inter in 2015.

Croatia now face Brazil in the quarter-finals in Qatar - and the South Americans also have a history of star players enjoying a drink and a cigarette. Legendary World Cup-winning winger Garrincha had a legendary thirst that eventually led to alcohol abuse. And Socrates, the elegant midfielder who captained Brazil at the 1982 tournament in Spain, was a notorious chain smoker.

[JohnS]

It is amazing. This reminds me of the 1970s Australian Cricket team. They could seriously out-drink and out-smoke anyone. Oh yeah, they played cricket very well too!

[rolaand]

Back in college I was blown away at some of the rowing/crew regattas when the adult guys would get off the water and light up a cigarette as they were cleaning off their rowing shells.

I could barely tie my shoelaces after those races.

[Bill Hayes]

Good on him. Elite athletes need a little treat/downtime or else quite a few of them tend to abuse substances and alcohol when on a break and off the hook. Young men, high testosterone, low body fat - recipe for mayhem unfortunately. Michael Tuck, a legendary AFL footballer was as lean as they come and could run all day and played a record 400+ games at the time. I remember him saying he always enjoyed a long neck bottle of beer and a steak the night before a game.