“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lokomotiva Zagreb can pretend not to have heard.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Lokomotiva Zagreb, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Asked to play a role that is not his, or taken off before the hour once too often — Marko Rog has let it be known that he does not like the way Lokomotiva Zagreb are using him. Managers hear this long before the press does.
Asked to play a role that is not his, or taken off before the hour once too often — Marko Rog has let it be known that he does not like the way Lokomotiva Zagreb are using him. Managers hear this long before the press does.
A 2-0 win over HNK Vukovar 1991, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Lokomotiva Zagreb, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Lokomotiva Zagreb have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Lokomotiva Zagreb that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Leonardo Sigali and Lokomotiva Zagreb agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.