'Supermario' Pasalic, the migrant soccer player sabotaged by a staphylococcus

Croatia has many old acquaintances for Spanish football that threaten Spain in this second final of the League of Nations for Spanish football, but 'Supermario' Pasalic may be the Croatian surprise.

At 17, we all feel invincible, like nothing bad can happen to us.. And, if you come from becoming the young pearl of Croatian football after scoring 17 goals in a season with the Hadjuk Split subsidiary as a midfielder and on top of that they compare you with the local idol Luka Modric, well that feeling increases.

However, fate is capricious, and Mario Pasalic (Mainz, 1995) had to suffer it himself. When he was finally able to play for the Croatian first team, he was diagnosed with a staphylococcus infection that left him unemployed for almost six months.. A disease that causes rashes and abscesses that could make life very difficult for a professional footballer.

But 'Supermario', as he has been nicknamed, managed to overcome him and become an indispensable man in the Croatian team. The following season he scored 11 goals and that earned him a call up from Chelsea in July 2014.. “I'm very happy to be a Chelsea player,” he said at the time of his signing and revealed his predilection for Frank Lampard.

on loan at Elche

A happiness that would not become complete. Pasalic stayed on the shortlist of 30 players given by the Croatian coach Nico Kovac to attend the World Cup in Brazil that same year. However, the Croatian team would not pass the group stage after losing to Brazil and Mexico even if they beat Cameroon 4-0.

The incredible and disappointing thing for this player who, despite being a midfielder “has the goal in his veins”, is that he never played for Chelsea. Already the first season, 2014/15, he was transferred to the Spanish league. He played for Elche, where he was one of the best: 31 games, three goals and the eighth most used player on the squad.

Since then, he has been loaned up to five times and played in four different leagues. In addition to the Spanish, he has gone through the Italian, Russian and French league. The Croatian began his emigration with the aforementioned Elche, followed by Monaco, then Milan, Spartak Moscow until he arrived in Bergamo in 2018.

Arrival in Bergamo

“I like small cities more than big ones,” he said after joining the city team, an Atalanta who has several bittersweet records in Italian Calcio. For example, it is the team that has played the most seasons in the First Division without having won a Scudetto and has the record for Second Division championships together with Genoa, six.

Despite not having the sea, one of the Croatian's passions, Bergamo has fit like a glove in his life and Atalanta in his career. Pasalic has found his best version in the Italian team at the hands of Gian Piero Gasperini. Italian box to box football is precisely the specialty of this football emigrant.

Pasalic in a match against Luka Modric's Real Madrid. EFE

In the five seasons he has played he has averaged 7.6 goals per year, although in 2021/22 he scored 13. He is one of the three Serie A midfielders to have scored two hat tricks along with Kaká and Ilicic.

Eight goals in 53 games

In the national team, in addition to being cut in the World Cup in Brazil, the same thing happened to him in Russia 2018. However, since Qatar he is a fundamental piece in Zlatko Dalic's plans. Pasalic has played 53 games for Croatia and has scored eight goals. The last one, the one that seemed to give victory to his team against the Netherlands in the first semifinal of this League of Nations.

Kramaric, Modric, Kovacic, Perisic, there are many names that threaten Luis De La Fuente's team in the second final of this newly minted tournament. However, Pasalic, 'Supermario' the emigrant, may be Croatia's silent weapon.