Q&A

Striking Journey

Dinamo Zagreb’s number 99 gave the Croatian side one of their greatest European nights with his winning goal in Matchday 1’s win over Chelsea. Here Mislav Oršić talks about how he needed to go to the other side of the world to find his feet

CJ Extra

Your path to Dinamo has been a complicated one. Did you ever imagine you’d be where you are now?

To be honest, I didn’t think things would go as they have when I first joined GNK Dinamo. I did have some setbacks; some might say that it has been a difficult career path thus far. It has been a real adventure for me. I have seen all corners of the world: going to Asia [in 2015 to play in South Korea and China] was a step that few young people would have chosen for themselves. At that moment, my career was not flourishing. I decided to pursue a new beginning elsewhere; it was truly the right choice for me. With everything that happened afterwards, I do not regret a single thing.

What did you learn from your time abroad?

Well, it’s hard to pinpoint something specific that I have learnt football-wise, but some players mature earlier and some later; some can play at the elite European level of competition in their early twenties, some simply can’t. I was one of those who couldn’t do it so young at the European level. For me, that step abroad enriched my personal life: I had a girlfriend there who I later married, and everything slowly set off. As soon as I joined Dinamo, we had a baby. In life you grow step by step and as the years pass. You mature as well – and the football aspect simply moves along more easily.

Mislav Oršić was the hero in their Dinamo's opener against Chelsea

Has everything fallen into place since arriving in Zagreb?  

From day one. I cannot single out any bad moments that I have experienced here. OK, losses constitute a part of the game – dropping out of the Europa League, bad games and the rest. But, all in all, there haven’t been situations where I had wished to leave the football club or I have been dissatisfied with something. Everything has been functioning well. The entire club: management, our physiotherapists, analysts, coaches. Everybody who looks to grant the players everything possible so that we can give our best on the pitch.  

Your coach, Ante Čačić, has plenty of experience and knowledge. What does he bring to the dressing room?

I think he brings calmness – a calm type of management without too much drama, without too much pressure and yelling. That meant a lot to us last season when we were fighting for the title in our last five matches. That was all we needed: to calm down, to get ourselves together. This season we have continued in the same fashion and good results are coming one after another. He always says that our chance will come, that we must remain calm, that we must be especially calm on the ball and wait for our chance. We know we have the individual quality to score when we find ourselves with a chance.

Dinamo have established themselves as a serious European club in the past decade. You must feel confident going forward…

We don’t have anything to lose. We’ve gained enough experience by playing European matches in the past few years to have the right to say that we’ll fight against everyone. It will definitely be tough. We’ll probably have to defend more than in the Europa League games, as we’re really playing against the best teams in Europe. But we’ll be ready for that and I’m sure we’ll have a chance in those matches.

Your path to Dinamo has been a complicated one. Did you ever imagine you’d be where you are now?

To be honest, I didn’t think things would go as they have when I first joined GNK Dinamo. I did have some setbacks; some might say that it has been a difficult career path thus far. It has been a real adventure for me. I have seen all corners of the world: going to Asia [in 2015 to play in South Korea and China] was a step that few young people would have chosen for themselves. At that moment, my career was not flourishing. I decided to pursue a new beginning elsewhere; it was truly the right choice for me. With everything that happened afterwards, I do not regret a single thing.

What did you learn from your time abroad?

Well, it’s hard to pinpoint something specific that I have learnt football-wise, but some players mature earlier and some later; some can play at the elite European level of competition in their early twenties, some simply can’t. I was one of those who couldn’t do it so young at the European level. For me, that step abroad enriched my personal life: I had a girlfriend there who I later married, and everything slowly set off. As soon as I joined Dinamo, we had a baby. In life you grow step by step and as the years pass. You mature as well – and the football aspect simply moves along more easily.

Mislav Oršić was the hero in their Dinamo's opener against Chelsea

Has everything fallen into place since arriving in Zagreb?  

From day one. I cannot single out any bad moments that I have experienced here. OK, losses constitute a part of the game – dropping out of the Europa League, bad games and the rest. But, all in all, there haven’t been situations where I had wished to leave the football club or I have been dissatisfied with something. Everything has been functioning well. The entire club: management, our physiotherapists, analysts, coaches. Everybody who looks to grant the players everything possible so that we can give our best on the pitch.  

Your coach, Ante Čačić, has plenty of experience and knowledge. What does he bring to the dressing room?

I think he brings calmness – a calm type of management without too much drama, without too much pressure and yelling. That meant a lot to us last season when we were fighting for the title in our last five matches. That was all we needed: to calm down, to get ourselves together. This season we have continued in the same fashion and good results are coming one after another. He always says that our chance will come, that we must remain calm, that we must be especially calm on the ball and wait for our chance. We know we have the individual quality to score when we find ourselves with a chance.

Dinamo have established themselves as a serious European club in the past decade. You must feel confident going forward…

We don’t have anything to lose. We’ve gained enough experience by playing European matches in the past few years to have the right to say that we’ll fight against everyone. It will definitely be tough. We’ll probably have to defend more than in the Europa League games, as we’re really playing against the best teams in Europe. But we’ll be ready for that and I’m sure we’ll have a chance in those matches.

Read the full story
Sign up now to get access to this and every premium feature on Champions Journal. You will also get access to member-only competitions and offers. And you get all of that completely free!

Your path to Dinamo has been a complicated one. Did you ever imagine you’d be where you are now?

To be honest, I didn’t think things would go as they have when I first joined GNK Dinamo. I did have some setbacks; some might say that it has been a difficult career path thus far. It has been a real adventure for me. I have seen all corners of the world: going to Asia [in 2015 to play in South Korea and China] was a step that few young people would have chosen for themselves. At that moment, my career was not flourishing. I decided to pursue a new beginning elsewhere; it was truly the right choice for me. With everything that happened afterwards, I do not regret a single thing.

What did you learn from your time abroad?

Well, it’s hard to pinpoint something specific that I have learnt football-wise, but some players mature earlier and some later; some can play at the elite European level of competition in their early twenties, some simply can’t. I was one of those who couldn’t do it so young at the European level. For me, that step abroad enriched my personal life: I had a girlfriend there who I later married, and everything slowly set off. As soon as I joined Dinamo, we had a baby. In life you grow step by step and as the years pass. You mature as well – and the football aspect simply moves along more easily.

Mislav Oršić was the hero in their Dinamo's opener against Chelsea

Has everything fallen into place since arriving in Zagreb?  

From day one. I cannot single out any bad moments that I have experienced here. OK, losses constitute a part of the game – dropping out of the Europa League, bad games and the rest. But, all in all, there haven’t been situations where I had wished to leave the football club or I have been dissatisfied with something. Everything has been functioning well. The entire club: management, our physiotherapists, analysts, coaches. Everybody who looks to grant the players everything possible so that we can give our best on the pitch.  

Your coach, Ante Čačić, has plenty of experience and knowledge. What does he bring to the dressing room?

I think he brings calmness – a calm type of management without too much drama, without too much pressure and yelling. That meant a lot to us last season when we were fighting for the title in our last five matches. That was all we needed: to calm down, to get ourselves together. This season we have continued in the same fashion and good results are coming one after another. He always says that our chance will come, that we must remain calm, that we must be especially calm on the ball and wait for our chance. We know we have the individual quality to score when we find ourselves with a chance.

Dinamo have established themselves as a serious European club in the past decade. You must feel confident going forward…

We don’t have anything to lose. We’ve gained enough experience by playing European matches in the past few years to have the right to say that we’ll fight against everyone. It will definitely be tough. We’ll probably have to defend more than in the Europa League games, as we’re really playing against the best teams in Europe. But we’ll be ready for that and I’m sure we’ll have a chance in those matches.

Q&A

Striking Journey

Dinamo Zagreb’s number 99 gave the Croatian side one of their greatest European nights with his winning goal in Matchday 1’s win over Chelsea. Here Mislav Oršić talks about how he needed to go to the other side of the world to find his feet

Text Link

Your path to Dinamo has been a complicated one. Did you ever imagine you’d be where you are now?

To be honest, I didn’t think things would go as they have when I first joined GNK Dinamo. I did have some setbacks; some might say that it has been a difficult career path thus far. It has been a real adventure for me. I have seen all corners of the world: going to Asia [in 2015 to play in South Korea and China] was a step that few young people would have chosen for themselves. At that moment, my career was not flourishing. I decided to pursue a new beginning elsewhere; it was truly the right choice for me. With everything that happened afterwards, I do not regret a single thing.

What did you learn from your time abroad?

Well, it’s hard to pinpoint something specific that I have learnt football-wise, but some players mature earlier and some later; some can play at the elite European level of competition in their early twenties, some simply can’t. I was one of those who couldn’t do it so young at the European level. For me, that step abroad enriched my personal life: I had a girlfriend there who I later married, and everything slowly set off. As soon as I joined Dinamo, we had a baby. In life you grow step by step and as the years pass. You mature as well – and the football aspect simply moves along more easily.

Mislav Oršić was the hero in their Dinamo's opener against Chelsea

Has everything fallen into place since arriving in Zagreb?  

From day one. I cannot single out any bad moments that I have experienced here. OK, losses constitute a part of the game – dropping out of the Europa League, bad games and the rest. But, all in all, there haven’t been situations where I had wished to leave the football club or I have been dissatisfied with something. Everything has been functioning well. The entire club: management, our physiotherapists, analysts, coaches. Everybody who looks to grant the players everything possible so that we can give our best on the pitch.  

Your coach, Ante Čačić, has plenty of experience and knowledge. What does he bring to the dressing room?

I think he brings calmness – a calm type of management without too much drama, without too much pressure and yelling. That meant a lot to us last season when we were fighting for the title in our last five matches. That was all we needed: to calm down, to get ourselves together. This season we have continued in the same fashion and good results are coming one after another. He always says that our chance will come, that we must remain calm, that we must be especially calm on the ball and wait for our chance. We know we have the individual quality to score when we find ourselves with a chance.

Dinamo have established themselves as a serious European club in the past decade. You must feel confident going forward…

We don’t have anything to lose. We’ve gained enough experience by playing European matches in the past few years to have the right to say that we’ll fight against everyone. It will definitely be tough. We’ll probably have to defend more than in the Europa League games, as we’re really playing against the best teams in Europe. But we’ll be ready for that and I’m sure we’ll have a chance in those matches.

Your path to Dinamo has been a complicated one. Did you ever imagine you’d be where you are now?

To be honest, I didn’t think things would go as they have when I first joined GNK Dinamo. I did have some setbacks; some might say that it has been a difficult career path thus far. It has been a real adventure for me. I have seen all corners of the world: going to Asia [in 2015 to play in South Korea and China] was a step that few young people would have chosen for themselves. At that moment, my career was not flourishing. I decided to pursue a new beginning elsewhere; it was truly the right choice for me. With everything that happened afterwards, I do not regret a single thing.

What did you learn from your time abroad?

Well, it’s hard to pinpoint something specific that I have learnt football-wise, but some players mature earlier and some later; some can play at the elite European level of competition in their early twenties, some simply can’t. I was one of those who couldn’t do it so young at the European level. For me, that step abroad enriched my personal life: I had a girlfriend there who I later married, and everything slowly set off. As soon as I joined Dinamo, we had a baby. In life you grow step by step and as the years pass. You mature as well – and the football aspect simply moves along more easily.

Mislav Oršić was the hero in their Dinamo's opener against Chelsea

Has everything fallen into place since arriving in Zagreb?  

From day one. I cannot single out any bad moments that I have experienced here. OK, losses constitute a part of the game – dropping out of the Europa League, bad games and the rest. But, all in all, there haven’t been situations where I had wished to leave the football club or I have been dissatisfied with something. Everything has been functioning well. The entire club: management, our physiotherapists, analysts, coaches. Everybody who looks to grant the players everything possible so that we can give our best on the pitch.  

Your coach, Ante Čačić, has plenty of experience and knowledge. What does he bring to the dressing room?

I think he brings calmness – a calm type of management without too much drama, without too much pressure and yelling. That meant a lot to us last season when we were fighting for the title in our last five matches. That was all we needed: to calm down, to get ourselves together. This season we have continued in the same fashion and good results are coming one after another. He always says that our chance will come, that we must remain calm, that we must be especially calm on the ball and wait for our chance. We know we have the individual quality to score when we find ourselves with a chance.

Dinamo have established themselves as a serious European club in the past decade. You must feel confident going forward…

We don’t have anything to lose. We’ve gained enough experience by playing European matches in the past few years to have the right to say that we’ll fight against everyone. It will definitely be tough. We’ll probably have to defend more than in the Europa League games, as we’re really playing against the best teams in Europe. But we’ll be ready for that and I’m sure we’ll have a chance in those matches.

Read the full story
Sign up now to get access to this and every premium feature on Champions Journal. You will also get access to member-only competitions and offers. And you get all of that completely free!

Your path to Dinamo has been a complicated one. Did you ever imagine you’d be where you are now?

To be honest, I didn’t think things would go as they have when I first joined GNK Dinamo. I did have some setbacks; some might say that it has been a difficult career path thus far. It has been a real adventure for me. I have seen all corners of the world: going to Asia [in 2015 to play in South Korea and China] was a step that few young people would have chosen for themselves. At that moment, my career was not flourishing. I decided to pursue a new beginning elsewhere; it was truly the right choice for me. With everything that happened afterwards, I do not regret a single thing.

What did you learn from your time abroad?

Well, it’s hard to pinpoint something specific that I have learnt football-wise, but some players mature earlier and some later; some can play at the elite European level of competition in their early twenties, some simply can’t. I was one of those who couldn’t do it so young at the European level. For me, that step abroad enriched my personal life: I had a girlfriend there who I later married, and everything slowly set off. As soon as I joined Dinamo, we had a baby. In life you grow step by step and as the years pass. You mature as well – and the football aspect simply moves along more easily.

Mislav Oršić was the hero in their Dinamo's opener against Chelsea

Has everything fallen into place since arriving in Zagreb?  

From day one. I cannot single out any bad moments that I have experienced here. OK, losses constitute a part of the game – dropping out of the Europa League, bad games and the rest. But, all in all, there haven’t been situations where I had wished to leave the football club or I have been dissatisfied with something. Everything has been functioning well. The entire club: management, our physiotherapists, analysts, coaches. Everybody who looks to grant the players everything possible so that we can give our best on the pitch.  

Your coach, Ante Čačić, has plenty of experience and knowledge. What does he bring to the dressing room?

I think he brings calmness – a calm type of management without too much drama, without too much pressure and yelling. That meant a lot to us last season when we were fighting for the title in our last five matches. That was all we needed: to calm down, to get ourselves together. This season we have continued in the same fashion and good results are coming one after another. He always says that our chance will come, that we must remain calm, that we must be especially calm on the ball and wait for our chance. We know we have the individual quality to score when we find ourselves with a chance.

Dinamo have established themselves as a serious European club in the past decade. You must feel confident going forward…

We don’t have anything to lose. We’ve gained enough experience by playing European matches in the past few years to have the right to say that we’ll fight against everyone. It will definitely be tough. We’ll probably have to defend more than in the Europa League games, as we’re really playing against the best teams in Europe. But we’ll be ready for that and I’m sure we’ll have a chance in those matches.

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