Mario Mandžukić, Croatian footballer
Mario Mandžukić (Croatian pronunciation: [mâːrio mǎndʒukitɕ]; born 21 May 1986) is a Croatian football coach and a former player who played as a forward. He is currently an assistant to Zlatko Dalić in the Croatia national team. He became known for his aggressiveness, defensive contribution and aerial prowess.He started his career in his hometown club Marsonia from where he moved to two Croatian capital city football clubs, first joining NK Zagreb and then signing with Dinamo Zagreb in 2007, where he was Prva HNL top goalscorer in the 2008–09 season. His prolific scoring earned him a transfer to VfL Wolfsburg in 2010. After some impressive performances at UEFA Euro 2012, where he was the joint top scorer, he was signed by Bayern Munich. In his first season with the club he won three trophies; the Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal, and the Champions League, while also becoming the first Croatian to score in a Champions League final. After winning a domestic double the following season, he left Bayern for Atlético Madrid in 2014, and a season later was signed by Juventus for €19 million, where he won the domestic double in his first three seasons, followed by another league title the following year. In the 2017 Champions League Final, he scored his second Champions League final goal, an overhead kick arching past the keeper that earned him UEFA Goal of the Season award. Mandžukić left Juventus in December 2019 for Qatari side Al-Duhail; however, after struggling to adapt, he terminated his contract and returned to Italy in January 2021, signing with AC Milan. He retired in September of the same year, despite receiving two proposals to sign for clubs as a free agent.
At international level, Mandžukić was given his debut for Croatia in November 2007 under manager Slaven Bilić. He participated in four major tournaments with his national side, Euro 2012, the 2014 World Cup, Euro 2016, and the 2018 World Cup, reaching the final of the latter tournament, after which he retired from international football. In total, he made 89 international appearances, and with 33 goals, he is the Croatia national team's second most prolific scorer of all time, behind Davor Šuker. He was named Croatian Footballer of the Year in 2012 and 2013.