Mario Pašalić joined in on the fun Ante Rebić and Andrej Kramarić have been having lately in Europe with his first career hat trick Tuesday night. As you should already know, Rebić has been on absolute fire for AC Milan and Andrej Kramarić ended the Bundesliga season with four goals in a single game against Borussia Dortmund. Pašalić put three past a junk Brescia side in a 6-2 victory.
After being treated like a red-headed stepchild for nearly six years – after Chelsea bought Pašalić from Hajduk in 2014 – it’s amazing that he never got discouraged as he never played a single minute for Chelsea and was loaned out to five separate teams: Elche, Monaco, AC Milan, Spartak Moscow, Atalanta.
At 25 years-old, Pašalić has finally found a home in Italy at Atalanta where he has scored 14 goals in 63 appearances since coming over in 2018. Not only that, he has helped the Serie A club to a Champions League quarterfinal berth where they will play PSG on August 12th in Portugal in a 1-leg tie. Atalanta currently sit six points below leaders Juventus with five matches remaining in the season.
Pašalić Goals @ 0:17, 2:41, 2:51
I don’t think anyone should be forced to like pussy.
I mean why limit your option. There actually three
Sets of genitalia.
Another day I get to wake up and thank
the celestial beings for being a Croat. ZDS!
Croat Lives Matter and no Fanooks matter!
You down with PLC .. yeah you know me!!
Brekalo = the goods.
He has shown enough with us to warrant his minutes.
VW is inconsequential.
Lol @Medo I saw what you did there with the pussy loving Croats.no LGBTQ Arm bands for our boys!!!!
@Medo
The Italian bitches wouldn’t know what hit them.
I was just thinking about how awesome it would be if Atalanta snagged some of our young players like Brekalo.
Any one of Brekalo, Rebic, Kramaric, Benkovic or Pongracic would be amazing over there with their offensive flair.
Sempremilan stated early in June that Atalanta was very interested in Brekalo.
That would be the perfect fit for Josip if that eventually happened I feel.
The young thoroughbred would finally be let out of the Wolfsburg stable and his talents would finally flourish in their free flowing offensive style of play.
Let’s hope it happens eventually.
2 young handsome pussy loving Croats linking up and causing mayhem at the disco and on the turf…maybe Brozo can show them the hotspots…then Uber home !
Good to hear Benkovic is playing and scored a goal.
I sound like a crazy person telling people this guy is good (only for him to be glued on the bench or injured).
Here are some highlights (he’s #32 on the red team, the tallest guy on the field):
0:30 – Long ball pass across the field right to the striker’s feet, springing him loose for a 1 one 1 with the keeper
0:50 – Scores goal from outside the box, but more technical finesse than just power. He paused, lined it up, and aimed for the corner. No luck involved.
Unfortunately, his man scored the equalizer. 🙂
Vlasic and Pasalic are both Hajduk products.
They sold Pasalic off for a measley $3 million the first chance they got, and they tried to sell Vlasic for $1.5 back when he was 17.
Now, they could end up being two-thirds of our future central midfield rotation.
Pasalic and Vlasic are very lucky to have good people managing their careers.
Pasalic’s team always seemed to make sure he wasn’t sent off to some bottom dwelling Dutch or Belgian league team. Always stayed in a top-6 league and on solid teams.
Vlasic’s father blocked all transfers for 4 years (since they first tried to sell him off), to ensure that Nikola continues to develop at Hajduk.
Man, it’s insane knowing that our National Team would look even better if we had competent leadership at Hajduk NOT ruining all the Dalmatian talent.
I’ve never really cared for Pasalic, only because he looked completely invisible every time he played for us.
I thought he was interesting at Hajduk, as he had a good goal rate for a midfielder and scored some key goals…
But when he went to Chelsea for so cheap and went on that “Chelsea automatic loan tour”, then I figured he was screwed and was just gonna be average.
Like Slavonac, I also thought of him as a ‘filler’ player. A guy that can slot into your starting eleven, not royally screw up, but largely be a non-factor (like a Jerko Leko).
However, there is something to be said about a player who always manages to start.
It couldn’t have been easy for him to be loaned out to several teams, across many different countries (since the age of 19), and win a starting spot on all of these teams.
I’m sure a part of that was his camp ensuring that he has a starting spot secured before the loan, but there’s never a guarantee…and these teams were not some crap teams in crap leagues. He played for CSKA, Milan, Monaco and Elche (and now Atalanta).
Pasalic seems like he has good people around him, who ensure that he is playing on good teams in good leagues (with coaches who want to play him).
It’s crazy (despite having a great season, on the most trending team in Europe right now)…that he still won’t be able to start for us.
I simply can’t see him ahead of Vlasic, even if Rakitic retires in the next year or two.
Our central midfield depth is insane.
Hopefully our future coach can figure out a way to maximize the talents of Vlasic, Brozovic, Kovacic and Pasalic when Modric/Rakitic retire.
He looks like he is more fit as well?
@ Niko
I like the Rakitic comparison .. AND .. a bit taller.
@ Slavonac
I love an intelligent player development Italian coach. Gasperini is a blessing for Pašalić.
PSG match is an opportunity to introduce his quality to all of Europe.
what a goal benkovic!!
Thx Niko
I was thinking just minutes wise
Or could he become a potential regular starter one day
Maybe after next euro or something
definitely Kruno!
Well said “Slavonac from Canada”. He has continued to work hard and finally arrived at the right place at the right time (good coach who is giving him the oppostunity).
@Dannyj
He’s not really like badelj, badelj can come off the bench and settle a game down, spot start for a modric or brozovic against a weaker team or can come in to kill off a game. Pasalic has shifted (for atalanta) to the top of the midfield diamond, he’s been playing as an attacking midfielder! We will see what Croatia does with him, but he kinda slots in to that Rakitic role for the repka, he got a bigger body too, so he’s affective in the air in the box as well! I’d imagine he’d be a late game substitute when we need a goal. And when Rakitic steps down a candidate to fill that roll.
Would you say he is like badelj type minutes All said and done or more so?
When you have a potential guy coming up like him and he is what third off the bench in midfield
Like I asked someone
Find me a national team with more midfield depth
I’ve watched Pasalic play in glimpses so I’m definitely not qualified to make any comments positive or negative but I’ll make some general observations.
I was never really hyped up on Pasalic…EVER. Not because he isn’t a good player but more so because he’s jumped around to 5 teams in 6 years. He wasn’t really making any impact or making a name for himself in any role at any team. He didn;t seem to be a fit for any club and to me, I saw him as one of those professionals that is a professional filler…not a solution for any particular club.
The thing that I see changing is the fact he plays for one of the absolute best coached teams in Europe at the moment…which is always very important for a young player and secondly, he isn’t just a fill-in…he actually is essential to their overall success. Its not just today, it has been like this since at least last year. I know this because I follow the Italian league and his name has been appearing as a very frequent name, week after week…so maybe I don’t see his value because I really haven’t looked but the truth is, the guy has persevered and deserves credit.
There’s another factor to his good form and impressive performances and that is the environment he plays in. His coach Gian Piero Gasperini has been making a name for himself because of the style of play he’s implemented and the choices he’s made to build his team and to make that club financially healthy…I just read about this and its impressive.
If Pasalic continues down this path he could very well become a very solid player for us and I hope he does. In my opinion, he’s come this far because of his will and hard work and to me, he deserve’s all the credit for putting in that effort and not giving up!
I like the comments in that YouTube highlight video.
“Why is every Croatian playing so well at the moment?”
–>”Their time has come to win Euro Cup and World Cup”
Pasalic looked awesome yesterday. He shows a lot of composure striking the ball. It looks like they were playing him much more up the field/in front of the net. I hope they keep him there.
I guess when this guy is your reference, you can aspire to be the best:
“The Croatian legend is 34 years old but is still one of the most effective midfielders in Europe. He recorded an assist for Benzema against Granada. Per WhoScored.com, Modric has five key passes, 11 fouls drawn, and a whopping 14 dribbles completed in his last four games.
Defenders and opposing midfielders simply can’t touch him, as Modric is weaving his magic and carrying the ball up the pitch for Real Madrid, playing an unsung but crucial role in the way Real both dominate games and begin chance creation.”
Depth of squad is the next step in our evolution as an elite footballing nation.
I wondered how our finals run would impact our younger core?
Pašalić and Kovačić are key players on their champions league club teams.
They both have stabilized the upward trajectory of their respective careers.
When they play they perform with confidence.
This is what the 2018 finals gave to us.
1998 was full of elite and confident footballers.
Modrić is a legend and there is no need of talk of who can fill his boots.
I see many young men who can now carry the Vatreni forward.
I do pray that our teenagers make moves from HNL to clubs where they will play and not waste the next 4 years of the careers.
@‘PSG
Atalanta is coming for your weak ass French Ligue prima Donna’s.
A lot of form being shown by cro players
Between kraa a maric, rebic, vlasic, modric, kovacic just yesterday, brozovic, palasic