Full name Marcelo Brozovic 2002–2010 Hrvatski Dragovoljac Weight 68 kg Number 77 Height 1.81 m | Playing position Role Footballer Place of birth Zagreb, Croatia Name Marcelo Brozovic | |
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Date of birth (1992-11-16) 16 November 1992 (age 23) Current teams Croatia national football team (Midfielder), Inter Milan (#77 / Midfielder) Parents Sanja Brozovic, Ivan Brozovic Siblings Patrick Brozovic, Ema Brozovic Similar People Mateo Kovacic, Ivan Perisic, Davide Santon, Andrea Ranocchia, Geoffrey Kondogbia | ||
Marcelo Brozović (born 16 November 1992) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays for Italian club Inter Milan. He is usually deployed as a box-to-box midfielder, but is considered to be a versatile midflielder who can perform well anywhere in the midfield. On the international level, Brozović plays for Croatia national team, and was part of the squad that represented his country on 2014 FIFA World Cup.
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Early career
Brozović was born in Zagreb, and graduated from neighbouring Hrvatski Dragovoljac's youth setup. He made his debut as a professional on 24 July 2010, starting and playing the full 90 minutes in a 1–4 loss against Dinamo Zagreb. Brozović scored his first goal on 18 March of the following year, the winner against Karlovac.
Lokomotiva
In July 2011, he signed with Lokomotiva, after Dragovoljac's relegation. He appeared in 27 league matches in his first campaign, scoring four times as Lokomotiva achieved a comfortable mid-table position.
Dinamo Zagreb
In August 2012, Brozović signed a seven-year contract with Dinamo Zagreb, as a replacement for Hamburger SV-bound Milan Badelj. He was given squad number 77, and made his competitive debut on 14 September in the goalless draw against NK Osijek at home, appearing as a second-half substitute. Four days later, Brozović made his UEFA Champions League debut by playing full-90 minutes in a 0–2 home defeat to Porto in the matchday 1 of group stage. He had to wait until 14 April of the following year to score his first Dinamo Zagreb goal, as he netted the second of the 2–0 home win over Inter Zaprešić. Brozović finished his first season with the club by making 30 appearances in all competitions, including 23 in league, scoring twice in the process, as Dinamo Zagreb won league, reached second round of the 2012–13 Croatian Football Cup, and was eliminated in the group stage of the Champions League.
Internazionale
On 24 January 2015, Brozović signed with Inter Milan on a one-and-a-half year loan deal, with a conditional obligation for Inter to buy. Brozović took his preferred shirt number 77, last worn at Inter by Sulley Muntari. He made his official debut with the club on 1 February 2015, playing the last 20 minutes of the 3–1 away upset of Inter against Sassuolo Calcio, becoming the 900th player to wear the Nerazzurri shirt. He scored his first Inter goal in final day in a 4–3 win over Empoli, helping Inter to end the season with a win. Brozović finished his first Inter season with 15 league appearances, 13 of them as a starter and one goal.
Brozović continued to cement his place in the starting lineup even in the second season by playing 85 minutes in team's opening league match against Atalanta at home. He scored his first league goal of the season on 23 November during the match against Frosinone at home, coming off the bench in 88th minute and netting the fourth goal of the match four minutes later, helping Inter to record its biggest win of the season. On 12 December, Brozović scored his second league goal, a screamer, and the last goal of the 4–0 away win against Udinese, celebrating the goal with his teammates with EpicBrozo signature in the process.
Only three days later, in the 2015–16 Coppa Italia's round of 16 match against Cagliari, Brozović scored the same identical goal that he scored against Udinese, helping Inter to progess in the quarter-final with a 3–0 win. On 7 February of the following year, he assisted Jeison Murillo's goal from a corner kick in the match against Hellas Verona, which finished in a 3–3 away draw. Two week later, Brozović supplied his second assist to Mauro Icardi who scored the third goal of the 3–1 home win against Sampdoria.
On 2 March, in the returning leg of Coppa Italia's semi-final against Juventus at San Siro, Brozović scored a brace, including one with penalty kick, to help Inter overturn the 3–0 defeat and equal the aggregate 3–3, which led the match into the penalty shootouts; he scored his penalty shootout attempt, but Inter lost 3–5 and eventually was eliminated from the competition.
Brozović started the new season by playing the last 20 minutes of the 2–0 defeat at Chievo Verona, picking up a yellow card in the 79th minute. On 15 September, during the first match of 2016–17 UEFA Europa League group stage against Hapoel Be'er Sheva, Brozović played as a starter before was substituted in the beginning of the second half; he refused to stay in the bench which created controversies at Inter. This lead the coach Frank de Boer to omit him for the league match against Juventus for "unprofessional behaviour". Speaking about the issue, De Boer stated that Brozović “has to demonstrate his discipline”, adding that "he did something I couldn’t accept".
He was finally called back on 20 October for the league match against Cagliari, finished in a 1–2 home defeat, remaining as an unused substitute. Four days later, he made his on-field debut in the matchday 3 of 2016–17 UEFA Europa League group stage against Southampton, but was sent off in the 77th minute after receiving a second yellow card.
Brozović improved his game with the new coach Stefano Pioli, scoring his first goal of the season on 24 November in the 3–2 away defeat to Hapoel Be'er Sheva, despite being 2–0 up in the first half, which confirmed the eliminaton of Inter from Europa League. That was followed by his first league goal for days later, scoring inside two minutes with a right shoot from edge the box, helping Inter past Fiorentina 4–2 at San Siro.
On 7 December, Brozović extended his contract with Inter Milan until 2021, with the new deal including a significant wage rise.
International career
Brozović appeared with Croatia in the under-18, under-19, under-20 and under-21 categories. With the latter he appeared well during 2013, scoring seven goals in eight appearances.
On 31 May 2014, Brozović was included in Niko Kovač's final list for 2014 FIFA World Cup, and made his debut for the main squad on 7 June, starting in a 1–0 success against Australia at the Estádio de Pituaçu. Brozović made his World Cup debut five days later, playing the last 26 minutes in a 1–3 loss against the hosts. Since the 2014 World Cup, Brozović became a regular starter in Croatia's Euro 2016 qualifiers, playing alongside Luka Modrić and Ivan Rakitić as part of a rotating midfield triangle for Croatia. He scored his first goal for Croatia against Azerbaijan, in a 6-0 win in Osijek. His second goal of the Euro 2016 qualifiers came in March 2015 against Norway, when he gave his team a 1-0 lead with a low curving shot from 20 meters into the bottom right corner. He netted a brace for Croatia on November 12th 2016 in the World Cup qualifiers against Iceland.