Croatian football player Ante Ćorić, who scored a goal in the victory of Malta’s Hamrun Spartans over Gibraltar’s Lincoln in the Conference League on Thursday, said that he is happy because he is finally playing continuously.
He was an attacking midfielder five months without a club before he came to Malta this summer.
It was the best possible choicesaid the 28-year-old Ćorić for the portal TuttoMercato.
I found what I was looking for here: playing continuouslyrestoring the competitive rhythm and calmness. I feel loved and trusted.
The former player of Dinamo Zagreb took a shot from the edge of the penalty area in stoppage time on Thursday and scored a goal for 3-1. He was very happy with the scored goalhis first in European competitions after nine years. He was the scorer for Dinamo in 2016 in a 2-2 draw with Dinamo Tbilisi in the preliminary round of the Champions League.
I feel great. I found continuity, I play the whole 90 minutessaid Coric.
In that last game I came back after physical problems so I started alone from the bench, came on in the last minutes and made the most of it, he added.
His luck is great because he was “out of the field for a long time” before arriving on that Mediterranean island.
I had serious back problem which required surgery. When I came back, I received some calls, but it was clear that the clubs were not sure about my physical ability to playhe said.
However, when the president of Hamrun Spartans called me and told me about the possibility, I felt really important. The same goes for the coach. They presented me with a concrete offer, even though they knew what kind of surgery I had undergone, and we signed the contract the very next dayhe said.
From 2022 to 2023, Ćorić was in Roma where he did not play, and then he was without a club for six months.
When I returned to Croatia I played all the matches for Rudeš. Later, an opportunity came in Varaždin, which I believed would be a stepping stonehe said.
But I began to feel back pain. The painkillers didn’t work and one day I couldn’t get out of bed, he added. He feared that he would have to end his career.
These are the injuries that make you evaluate whether it is better to stop playinghe stated.
Doctors examined him and immediately sent him to surgery. In the last five months, he has not felt any discomfort, so he has made 18 appearances for the second-placed team of the Maltese championship.
A terrible period is behind me, so I’m alone grateful to loved ones for helping me move forwardhe noted.
Seven years ago, as a 21-year-old talented midfielder of Dinamo and the young Croatian national team, he went to Roma. However, he made only three appearances there.
I have been asked many times why i played so little. I don’t know how to answer. I didn’t have a chance, that’s a fact, but I don’t know why I didn’t get ithe said.
However, when I arrived, I was referred to as Fr great talent. (Sporting director) Monchi brought me in but left after four months. During the first season, I asked to go on loan, but they refusedhe added. They told him that he was young and that he would get a chance. To believe in him.
They also told me yes I train wellthat I’m a good boy and that I don’t worry about anything. But I didn’t play the games. If they had told me ‘we are sorry, you are not a player for Roma’, I would have understood. Instead, nothing, it got to the point where no one would talk to mehe said. Then he still went on loan. First to the Spanish Almeria, then the Dutch VVV-Venlo and the Slovenian Olympia, and then to Zürich, where he won the Swiss championship.
But it made me stronger. That my time in Roma and the injuries. These are undoubtedly experiences that made me stronger and now I am happyhe stated.
For now, he doesn’t think too much about the future. He wants to play as well as possible in Malta.
(Hina | Photo: Hamrun Spartans FC)
