If Modric is the conductor of Croatia in the World Cup, Marcelo Brozovic, 30, is the lung, always present in the exchange of passes from one intermediary to the other and with an endless willingness to mark.
Brozovic is also a smoker, a habit not very common among current athletes, more adept at the health generation. The midfielder has allowed himself to be photographed more than once with cigarettes or cigars, whether in the Croatian national team’s changing room or at his club, Inter de MIlão, and he posts the images on his Instagram profile without any problems.
Asked by another player if he was a smoker, he replied that he smoked “from time to time”.
Apparently, this doesn’t impede his ability to run more than the 15 km of a São Silvestre per match.
In the game that caused the elimination of Brazil, in the quarterfinals, Brozovic led a statistic that is usual for him, he was the one who ran the most, with 15.72 km. The defensive midfielder was also the one who reached the highest average speed among the players on the field, with 7.83 km/h.
And this is not the Croatian’s best number in Qatar. In the round of 16 match against Japan, the Inter athlete covered 16.64 km, a record for this Cup. The number also surpasses Brozovic’s personal World Cup record of 16.3 km, run in the 2018 semi-final, when Croatia beat England 2-1, in overtime, of course.
In the only extension of 2022 without the presence of Croatia, between Morocco and Spain, the mileage champion was Moroccan midfielder Azzedine Ounahi, with 22 springs, who covered 14.71 km.
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