World Cup in Qatar: Ivan Perisic, 123 national teams with Croatia, three of which in beach volleyball | Qatar 2022 World Cup

Between jagged mountains and the Adriatic lies Omis, a small and intricate village full of fortresses, underground tunnels and a past as a pirate port on the Dalmatian coast, half an hour’s drive from Split. “The most beautiful place in the world”, boasts Ivan Perisic, who had the Church of the Archangel St. Michael tattooed on his cufflink to always carry its origins with him. Indomitable like the corsairs who took refuge in his hometown, Perisic is one of those athletes who reaches his maximum brilliance on big occasions. His goal against Japan paved the way for Croatia to reach the quarter-finals and paints the Tottenham player as the only player, alongside Cristiano Ronaldo, to have scored in every World Cup and Euro Cup since 2014 (he managed even Messi if you consider the America’s Cup). In total, the Croatian amasses 10 goals and seven assists in 24 major tournament matches.

Perisic, 33, scored the goal for France that tied their last final in Russia; He had already done so in the semifinal against England in a World Cup which finished as the player who ran the most in the league (72.5 kilometres). Perisic, who has 120 caps and another three with the national beach volleyball team, is the only player in Qatar to have defended his country’s shirt in two sports.

In the summer of 2017 he played with Croatia in a beach volleyball World Tour tournament, another great passion of his. “I’ve been playing since I was nine. I’m passionate about it,” she confesses. With his compatriot Niksa Dell’Orco he formed a team in Porec, not far from her home. They lost all three games, against two North American pairs and a Brazilian who led the world rankings. “He is a great athlete and the big difference has been his lack of experience in our sport, but he has shown great skills,” said his rival Álvaro Fliho, one of the references in the modality. Perisic, who obtained permission from Inter to compete, donated all his earnings to the Croatian federation to promote beach volleyball. It wasn’t his only sporting passion: he also practices kickboxing.

But his job is football. This is how she felt at 17 when he had to pack his bags and leave for France. “I don’t know very well what it was, but at least I learned the language,” she later assessed. Perisic grew up in Hajduk Split’s academy, had shown himself internationally and was already alternating in the first team, where Zoran Vulic, coach and former player of Mallorca, wanted to shake him up. But a lucrative offer from the French team drove him into exile. The family was in financial difficulty as the father’s business, a poultry farm, was about to close. At the behest of his father, Perisic went to France with his mother and sister, his father kept chickens, the family broke up after a divorce, and where there used to be a farm, now there is a house for rural tourism .

At least the football bet went well. Not at Sochaux, where Perisic failed to establish himself in the first team, but through a journey that began in the Belgian championship. From Bruges he joined the national team in February 2011 and soon after in the Bundesliga, where he played against Jürgen Klopp at Borussia Dortmund. However, last February, before the match between Liverpool and Inter in the Champions League, the German coach showed his admiration for him. “Perisic is the most dangerous player we will face. I know him well”. Now the footballer himself assumes that he was wrong about Klopp: “It was he who brought me to modern football. I didn’t know that the game was two-way. In the end, the only thing I asked him was to be owner and we looked for a way out.” Wolfsburg, Inter Milan, Bayern and now Tottenham guarantee a solid career that becomes even greater when he wears his country’s checkered shirt.

Only Luka Modric and Darijo Srna have made more Croatia appearances than Perisic, who if he lines up against Brazil next Friday will add 121 caps to his three beach volleyball caps. And there not even Modric himself equals him.

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