croatian football player
Joško Gvardiol ( croatian pronunciation : [ jôʃko ɡʋârdioːl ] ; [ 1 ] [ 2 ] born 23 January 2002 ) is a croatian professional football player who plays as a defender for Bundesliga golf club RB Leipzig and the Croatia home team .

early career [edit ]

Gvardiol started playing football at the historic period of seven when his forefather Tihomir, once an amateur actor in his native Novigrad, took him to Trešnjevka. While there, he was spotted by Lokomotiva and Zagreb ; however, at the last infinitesimal he received an offer from Dinamo Zagreb which his family accepted. [ 3 ] initially, he played as a left-back or a central midfielder until Dinamo academy bus Dalibor Poldrugač moved him to the centre-back placement. soon after, Gvardiol started drawing interest from outstanding european clubs, [ 3 ] including Manchester City, Lille, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, Bayern Munich, Ajax, Inter Milan and Roma. [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ] [ 7 ] He played a key contribution in Dinamo ‘s 2018–19 UEFA Youth League crusade, [ 8 ] where they reached quarter-finals before losing 4–2 to Chelsea in a punishment gunfight. [ 9 ] After being impressed by his performances for youth teams, elder Dinamo coach Nenad Bjelica called Gvardiol up to the senior team for pre-season games in Slovenia in summer 2019. On 2 July, he scored in a 2–0 friendly succeed over Austria Klagenfurt. [ 10 ] On 10 October 2019, he was included in The Guardian’ s Next Generation list. [ 11 ]

Club career [edit ]

Dinamo Zagreb [edit ]

2019–20 season [edit ]

Gvardiol made his league debut for the senior Dinamo team on 18 October in a 4–2 victory over Gorica, coming on for Mario Gavranović in the 87th moment. [ 12 ] In his moment league appearance for the club on 2 November, he scored the only goal in a 1–0 victory over Inter Zaprešić. That made him the sixth youngest league goalscorer for Dinamo, after Alen Halilović, Mateo Kovačić, Niko Kranjčar, Ante Ćorić and Tin Jedvaj. [ 13 ] On 12 February 2020, in a UEFA Youth League play-off against Dynamo Kyiv, Gvardiol successfully converted a penalty in a gunfight as Dinamo won 4–3 and qualified for the round of 16. [ 14 ] In the polish of 16 against Bayern Munich on 4 March, Gvardiol reflected Leon Dajaku ‘s shoot into his own net to set the score to 2–2. In the resulting gunfight, he successfully converted his attempt again as Dinamo won 6–5 and progressed to the quarter-finals. [ 15 ] On 25 June, Gvardiol signed a five-year shrink with Dinamo. [ 16 ] On 5 July, in the bowler hat against Rijeka when the league entitle was already mathematically secured, Gvardiol reflected Franko Andrijašević ‘s photograph into his own net as Rijeka won 2–0, which would finally cost coach Igor Jovićević his job. [ 17 ] [ 18 ]

2020–21 season [edit ]

On 26 August, in the Champions League qualifier against CFR Cluj, Gvardiol came on for Mario Gavranović in the 54th moment following Kévin Théophile-Catherine ‘s red card. The game led to a penalty gunfight, with Gvardiol successfully converting his try, as Dinamo won 6–5 and progressed to the one-third modification round. [ 19 ] [ 20 ] [ 21 ] In belated August and early September, the media reported on the matter to of the newly promoted Premier League side Leeds United, whose coach Marcelo Bielsa offered € 22 million to sign the 18-year-old ; [ 22 ] [ 23 ] [ 24 ] however, Gvardiol refused the offer and opted to stay in the Prva HNL and develop further. [ 25 ] [ 26 ] On 16 September, in a Champions League qualifier against Ferencváros, Gvardiol made an error that led to Myrto Uzuni ‘s victorious goal for 2–1 as the hungarian champions knocked Dinamo out to the Europa League play-offs. [ 27 ] [ 28 ] however, on 28 September, it was announced that Gvardiol signed for Bundesliga golf club RB Leipzig on a five-year condense for € 16 million, plus diverse add-ons. [ 29 ] The fee was the highest ever paid for a croatian adolescent and the third base highest ever paid for a croatian defender, merely behind Dejan Lovren and Duje Ćaleta-Car. [ 30 ] Gvardiol remained at Dinamo for the end of the season. [ 29 ] On 22 October, he debuted for Dinamo in a elder UEFA contest, as Dinamo drew 0–0 with Feyenoord in the Europa League. [ 31 ] On 16 November, Gvardiol tested positive for COVID-19, which forced him to miss the bowler hat against Osijek, now coached by Bjelica, on 21 November. [ 32 ] [ 33 ] On 10 December, Gvardiol scored his first goal in a senior UEFA rival, as Dinamo defeated CSKA Moscow 3–1 in the Europa League. [ 34 ] After completion of the Europa League group stage, Gvardiol ‘s performances were highly praised, as Dinamo conceded entirely one goal and topped their group. [ 35 ] On 28 February 2021, he scored the opening finish and assisted the third one in a 3–0 victory over Slaven Belupo. [ 36 ] however, after a quadriceps injury in trail in early on March, he was forced to miss both legs of Dinamo ‘s Europa League Round of 16 tie against Tottenham Hotspur, which Dinamo won 3–2 on aggregate. [ 37 ] [ 38 ] [ 39 ] He returned for the quarter-final match against Villarreal on 8 April, which ended as a 1–0 loss. [ 40 ] [ 41 ] Three days former, he scored his third base finish of the season in a 2–0 victory over Lokomotiva. [ 42 ] On 22 May, Gvardiol played his concluding game for Dinamo, 1–0 victory over Šibenik. [ 43 ] [ 44 ]

RB Leipzig [edit ]

Gvardiol made his Bundesliga debut on 20 August 2021 in a 4–0 victory over VfB Stuttgart, playing the entire match. [ 45 ] On 15 September, he made his Champions League debut in a 6–3 frustration to Manchester City. [ 46 ] On 11 December, he scored his debut goal for Leipzig in a 4–1 victory over Borussia Mönchengladbach. [ 47 ] [ 48 ]

International career [edit ]

Gvardiol earned his first call-up to Croatia national under-21 team in October 2019, at the age of 17, when coach Igor Bišćan listed him in the squad for Under-21 Euro 2021 qualifiers against Lithuania and the Czech Republic. [ 49 ] Gvardiol debuted on 14 November against the erstwhile opposition, being named in the start batting order, as Croatia won 3–1. [ 50 ] On 8 October 2020, he scored the one-tenth goal in Croatia ‘s 10–0 victory over San Marino, the largest victory in the history of the national team. [ 51 ] On 9 March 2021, he was named in Bišćan ‘s 23-man team for the group stage of the tournament ; however, he was forced to miss it due to a quadriceps injury. [ 52 ] [ 37 ] [ 38 ] On 17 May, he was named in Bišćan ‘s 23-man team for the knockout stage of the tournament, [ 53 ] adenine well as Zlatko Dalić ‘s 26-man squad for the UEFA Euro 2020. [ 54 ] After losing 2–1 to Spain after extra prison term in the Under-21 Euro quarter-final, [ 55 ] Gvardiol joined the elder team. [ 56 ] He made his senior introduction in a friendly 1–0 kill to Belgium on 6 June, being substituted on for Borna Barišić at half-time. [ 57 ] [ 58 ] A week late, he earned his first start for the national team, in a 1–0 kill to England in Croatia ‘s opening game of Euro 2020. [ 59 ] [ 60 ] With 19 years, four months and 21 days, he became the youngest ever player to play for Croatia at a major tournament, surpassing Mateo Kovačić. [ 61 ] [ 62 ] On 8 October 2021, he scored his debut goal for Croatia in a 3–0 World Cup qualifying victory over Cyprus. [ 63 ]

career statistics [edit ]

baseball club [edit ]

As of 18 December 2021[64]

International [edit ]

As of match played 14 November 2021[65]
National team Year Apps Goals
Croatia 2021 9 1
Total 9 1
Scores and results list Croatia’s goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Gvardiol goal.[65]

Honours [edit ]

Dinamo Zagreb
Individual

References [edit ]