In the 2022 FIFA World Cup quarterfinal matchup against Brazil, Croatia managed to tie the score in a dramatic fashion. In the 117th minute of the game, Bruno Petkovic scored the goal to save the 2018 runners up from being eliminated.
Also read: Bruno Petković equalises for Croatia in extra-time, nullifies Neymar goal: Watch
Who is Bruno Petković?
Bruno Petkovic, a professional football player for Dinamo Zagreb and the Croatian national team, was born on September 16, 1994.
Croatia’s Metkovic is where Petkovic was born. His mother Ruza Nizic is a Herzegovinian Croat from Crveni Grm close to Ljubuski, while his father Jakov Petkovic is from Metkovic. Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic were his football idols when he was a youngster.
Before joining Dinamo Zagreb in 2007, he began his youth career with his hometown teams ONK Metkovic and NK Neretva. He stayed there up until September 4, 2009, when he relocated to the youth academy of NK Zagreb, a rival city team, across the city. Before moving to Italy to play for Serie A team Catania, he represented NK HASK (2010–11) and Hrvatski Dragovoljac (2011–12) in the next two seasons.
He only received one youth cap, against Liechtenstein on August 13, 2013, when Croatia U21 defeated them 5-0. He scored in that game.
He was given his first senior Croatia call-up on March 11 in order to fill in for the injured Marko Pjaca. On March 21, 2019, he made his competitive debut against Azerbaijan in a Euro 2020 qualifier. On June 11, against Tunisia, in a friendly match, he scored his first goal for the national team.
Also read: Who is Dominik Livaković?
With four goals and an assist, he proved to be crucial to Croatia’s successful UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying campaign. He ended the qualifying rounds with the most goals scored in his group. Petkovic, however, came under fire for his ineffectiveness in the national squad during Croatia’s disastrous 2020-21 Nations League campaign, where they managed to win just three points in six games, after the tournament was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Petkovic and his partner Iva Saric welcomed a child on April 3, 2021, and they named him Adrian.
