Mateo Kovačić

He provided the winning assist for Rodrigo Palacio, who made it 2–0 for Inter, impressing the crowd with his performance, and was given standing ovations while being substituted off in the 89th minute.

Kovačić made his first domestic league start for Inter in the next round of Serie A in a 1–4 away loss against Fiorentina.

In the round of 16 of the Europa League, Inter was drawn to play against Tottenham Hotspur.

Mateo Kovačić ( born 6 May 1994) is a professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Premier League club Manchester City.

Born in Austria, he plays for the Croatia national team.

In 2007, when Kovačić was 13, he was spotted by scouts from several prominent European clubs, including Ajax, Inter Milan, Juventus and Bayern Munich, but his family opted to move to Zagreb instead, where he joined the academy of Croatian club Dinamo Zagreb.

Kovačić suffered a serious injury in 2009 in which his leg was broken, but he returned to the pitch after a lengthy recovery on 31 May 2010, appearing in the last match of the Croatian under-17 academy league, in a friendly 5–0 win against RNK Split under-17s.

Kovačić started training with the club's senior squad under manager, Vahid Halilhodžić, four months later, on 6 October 2010, but continued to appear for the club in academy league matches during October.

Later that month, it was reported by the local sports daily, Sportske novosti, that Arsenal's chief scout, Steve Rowley, had arrived in Zagreb to watch him perform in under-17 matches against HNK Cibalia and NK Zagreb.

Kovačić had his professional league debut in the 2010–11 Prva HNL away match against Hrvatski Dragovoljac on 20 November 2010, in which he scored Dinamo's fourth goal in their 6–0 win.

This made him the youngest goalscorer in the history of the league, at the age of 16 years and 198 days, breaking the record set only a week earlier by Dino Špehar who had scored for NK Osijek at the age of 16 years and 278 days on 13 November 2010.

In his first senior season with Dinamo Zagreb he appeared in seven matches, making a contribution in winning the league title.

In the 2011–12 season, Kovačić rapidly established himself as a first-team regular.

He played mainly in the position of left midfielder in 4–2–3–1 system.

Early in the season, he helped the team reach the group stage of the season's UEFA Champions League for the first time in 12 years.

Being only 17 years old, he appeared in the starting lineup of Dinamo's first group match against Real Madrid.

He finished his first European season with Dinamo by scoring a goal against Lyon in the last game of the group stage in Zagreb and thus became the second youngest ever scorer in the Champions League.

In the domestic league, he was a regular starter, appearing in 25 league matches and scoring five goals in the process.

During a league match against NK Lučko, he became the youngest player to captain Dinamo, when taking the captaincy from Leandro Cufré.

It was another successful season for him in domestic competitions as he appeared in 32 domestic league and cup matches during that season, helping Dinamo to win their seventh consecutive league title.

In December 2011, he was named Croatian Football Hope of the Year.

He also scored in the 2012 Croatian Cup final against Osijek at Stadion Maksimir.

In the beginning of 2012–13 season, he suffered a metatarsal bone injury that caused him to miss several games on the club's qualifying road to another Champions League.

He returned just in time to play in Dinamo's first 2012–13 Champions League game against Porto.

Kovačić played in all six Dinamo Zagreb's matches in the 2012–13 Champions League group stage, against Porto, Paris Saint-Germain and Dynamo Kyiv.

He continued to impress with his mature performances at a young age during the first half of the season.

In October 2012, he was nominated for Golden Boy, an award given by sports journalists to a young player from Europe perceived to have been the most impressive during a season.

During the season's winter break, Dinamo's board threw away the speculations about Kovačić leaving the club in the near future by saying they are building a new team around him and another rising star, Alen Halilović.

He made his Inter Milan debut three days later on 3 February, coming on as a half-time substitute in a 2012–13 Serie A match against Siena.

On 14 February, Kovačić made his European debut before the home crowd at San Siro in a 2012–13 UEFA Europa League match against CFR Cluj.

Kovačić began his professional career with Dinamo Zagreb at the age of 16, with whom he won two consecutive Prva HNL titles, before joining Inter Milan in 2013.

Born in Austria, Kovačić played for Croatia at multiple youth levels before making his debut for the senior national team in 2013.

On 31 January 2013, Kovačić agreed to a transfer to Serie A club Inter Milan.

The deal was worth €15 million in total, with €11 million paid immediately and €4 million if Inter were to qualifiy for the Champions League.

After the 2014–15 season, he moved to Real Madrid, where he won the 2015–16, 2016–17 and 2017–18 UEFA Champions Leagues.

He has represented the nation at the 2014, 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups, as well as the 2016 and 2020 UEFA European Championships, reaching the 2018 FIFA World Cup and 2023 UEFA Nations League finals.

Kovačić began playing at an early age at the local LASK's academy.

He joined Chelsea in 2018 on loan, signing permanently at the end of the 2018–19 season.

With Chelsea, Kovačić won the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League and the 2020–21 Champions League, as well as having been named Chelsea Player of the Year for the 2019–20 season.

He was also part of the team that won the UEFA Super Cup and the first FIFA Club World Cup for Chelsea in the 2021–22 season.