“If you played in Bosnia right after the war, you can play anywhere,” said Luka Modrić, an AC Milan player and captain of the Croatian national football team, in an interview with Corriere della Sera.
Speaking about his performances for Zrinjski Mostar during the 2003/2004 season, he said:
“It was my first senior experience, on loan from Dinamo. It was very difficult. There were Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs. Three religions—Muslims, Catholics, and Orthodox. When I went to play in Sarajevo, it was like hell. The referees didn’t protect you. It wasn’t easy. I was 17 years old, but it helped me a lot,” Modrić said, emphasizing that the experience of playing in Bosnia and Herzegovina shaped him “both as a footballer and as a person.”
