Darijo Srna

Darijo Srna

Personal information
Date of birth	1 May 1982 (1982-05-01) (age 28)
Place of birth	Metković, SFR Yugoslavia
Height	1.82 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Right wingback / right winger
Club information
Current club	FC Shakhtar Donetsk
Number	33
Youth career
	Neretva Metković
	Hajduk Split
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1999–2003	Hajduk Split	69	(7)
2003–	Shakhtar Donetsk	160	(12)
National team‡
2002–	Croatia	72	(19)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 09 May 2010. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 3 September 2010

Darijo Srna (Croatian pronunciation: [ˈdaːriɔ ˈsrna]; born 1 May 1982 in Metković)^[1] is a Croatian footballer who currently plays for Shakhtar Donetsk and is the captain of the Croatian national team, in which he is currently the leading goalscorer out of the current active squad and second on the all time list.

Club career

Srna's talent was seen by many scouts in Croatia when he was young. Srna was later signed anyway as his talent became evident and desirable for the Croatian giants^[2]

Shakhtar Donetsk

In 2003, Srna was sold, along with Stipe Pletikosa to Shakhtar Donetsk.^[3] He is a common member and the captain in his club side, in which he has made a large impact in the league with.

After the 2006 World Cup, Benfica were reported to be after the player's signature but nothing materialized, with what many considered a fallen or rejected sale. Since then, he has been linked with a number of other clubs, including S.S. Lazio.

Srna made his debut in main stage of UEFA Champions League on 14 September 2004 against Milan.

On 23 June 2008, Srna gave a interview to the Croatian press in which he said:

"I will leave Shakhtar only when I stop getting place in the starting lineup. I want to win something great with Shakhtar. For now I don't want to leave Shakhtar even if Liverpool make an offer."

On 20 May 2009, Srna won the UEFA Cup with Shakhtar as captain. Srna provided the assist for Jádson's winning goal seven minutes into extra time, and was named Man of the match. This was the last UEFA Cup before the change to the Europa League.

International career

Euro 2004

Srna made his full international debut for the Croatian national team in a friendly match against Romania in November 2002. He went on to score his first international goal on his competitive debut for Croatia in their Euro 2004 qualifier against Belgium in March 2003, netting the opening goal in Croatia's 4–0 win. He made a total of six appearances in Croatia's qualifying campaign for the Euro 2004, including both play-off matches against Slovenia.

At the Euro 2004 finals, he appeared as a substitute in Croatia's group matches against Switzerland and England before they were knocked out of the tournament in the first round.^[3]

2006 World Cup

After the Euro 2004, Srna went on to become one of the key players in Croatia's 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign, scoring five goals in nine appearances during the campaign and being the team's top goalscorer in the competition. During the 2006 World Cup qualifying, he scored both goals in Croatia's two 1–0 wins over Sweden, including a long-range free kick in the away fixture in Gothenburg. He also netted both goals in Croatia's 2–2 home draw against Bulgaria as well as one goal in their 3–1 away win at Iceland.

Srna then starred in all three games of Croatia's 2006 World Cup campaign. He was highly praised and remembered for his spectacular 30 yard free kick which put Croatia ahead against Australia in the infamous "Graham Poll three-yellow card" blunder match that ended 2–2 and saw Croatia therefore exit from the group stage.

In September 2006, Srna was temporarily dropped from the Croatian squad for a Euro 2008 qualifying match with Russia because of a late night partying spree in a local disco along with teammates Boško Balaban and Ivica Olić.^[4]

Euro 2008

Srna was considered the hero of the match when he came on as a substitute against Macedonia in a Euro 2008 qualifying match and scored shortly after from a free kick which was shot into the right corner of the goal.^[5] In the 88th minute, he provided a cross which found fellow teammate Eduardo and allowed him to score and snatch a late win for Croatia. He also scored Croatia's equaliser in their hard fought away victory against Israel, which eventually ended 4–3 in Croatia's favor. Srna went on to miss a penalty against Estonia, however his overall contribution to teamwork attack compensated for this mistake which Croatia quickly capitalized on to win 2–0.

Since helping his country qualify for Euro 2008 with a strong qualifying campaign, Srna was unsurprisingly named in their 23-man squad for the current tournament. On 12 June, Srna scored the opening goal in the 24th minute of Croatia's 2–1 victory over Germany in their second game of Group B. He was the only player to score for Croatia in their unsuccessful penalty shootout in the quarter finals against Turkey. At the conclusion of the match, Srna was seen struggling to hold back an emotional breakdown because of Croatia's strong efforts but eventual defeat.

After the tournament, Srna has been said to succeed current captain Niko Kovač in carrying the captaincy armband for the national team. Amongst other candidates, his head coach at Shakhtar gave an interview which praised his hard work and passion for the game, leaving him to be a most likely candidate.^[6]

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	29 March 2003	Maksimir Stadium, Zagreb, Croatia	Belgium	1 – 0	4 – 0	Euro 2004 Qualifying
2.	31 March 2004	Maksimir Stadium, Zagreb, Croatia	Turkey	2 – 1	2 – 2	Friendly
3.	8 September 2004	Ullevi Stadium, Gothenburg, Sweden	Sweden	0 – 1	0 – 1	World Cup 2006 Qualifying
4.	9 October 2004	Maksimir Stadium, Zagreb, Croatia	Bulgaria	1 – 0	2 – 2	World Cup 2006 Qualifying
5.	9 October 2004	Maksimir Stadium, Zagreb, Croatia	Bulgaria	2 – 0	2 – 2	World Cup 2006 Qualifying
6.	9 February 2005	Teddy Stadium, Jerusalem, Israel	Israel	1 – 2	3 – 3	Friendly
7.	3 September 2005	Laugardalsvöllur, Reykjavik, Iceland	Iceland	1 – 3	1 – 3	World Cup 2006 Qualifying
8.	8 October 2005	Maksimir Stadium, Zagreb, Croatia	Sweden	1 – 0	1 – 0	World Cup 2006 Qualifying
9.	1 March 2006	St. Jakob-Park, Basel, Switzerland	Argentina	2 – 2	2 – 3	Friendly
10.	22 June 2006	Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion, Stuttgart, Germany	Australia	1 – 0	2 – 2	World Cup 2006
11.	15 November 2006	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan, Israel	Israel	1 – 1	3 – 4	Euro 2008 Qualifying
12.	24 March 2007	Maksimir Stadium, Zagreb, Croatia	Macedonia	1 – 1	2 – 1	Euro 2008 Qualifying
13.	22 August 2007	Koševo, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0 – 2	3 – 5	Friendly
14.	22 August 2007	Koševo, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina	Bosnia and Herzegovina	2 – 4	3 – 5	Friendly
15.	12 September 2007	Estadi Comunal, Andorra la Vella, Andorra	Andorra	0 – 1	0 – 6	Euro 2008 Qualifying
16.	12 June 2008	Hypo-Arena, Klagenfurt, Austria	Germany	1 – 0	2 – 1	Euro 2008
17.	20 August 2008	Ljudski vrt, Maribor, Slovenia	Slovenia	2 – 2	2 – 3	Friendly
18.	14 November 2009	Stadion HNK Cibalia, Vinkovci, Croatia	Liechtenstein	2 – 0	5 – 0	Friendly
19.	3 September 2010	Skonto Stadium, Riga, Latvia	Latvia	0 – 3	0 – 3	Euro 2010 Qualifying

Personal life

Srna was born to Milka and Uzeir Srna in Metković. He has stated that he owes all his credentials to his father, Uzeir, who kept him alive and faithful during the tough years of the war, helping him pursue his dream as a footballer in light of his own personal tragedies. During World War II Chetniks, a Serbian nationalist organisation, killed Uzeir's pregnant mother and his father was killed by a stray bullet during the ethnic cleansing against Bosnian Muslims.^[7] Before leaving Croatia to join for Shakhtar, he gifted his parents with a brand new Mercedes.^[8] He has a tattoo of a deer playing football on his leg, as 'Srna' in Croatian means 'deer'.^[9]

Srna has a half-brother, Renato who works as a coach at Neretva, from Uzeir's previous marriage with a woman called Nada.^[9] His other brother Igor has Down syndrome. As a result, Srna dedicates all his goals to him,^[9] and even revealed a shirt under his jersey saying "Igor, svi smo uz tebe" ("Igor, we are all here for you") after scoring a goal against Macedonia. He also has a tattoo of "Igor" along his heart.

While playing for Shakhtar Srna occasionally bought many tickets for orphans. Besides buying tickets, he also paid for the transport. One time he paid for 920 children^[10], another time he paid for 760 children.^[11]

Srna is married to longtime girlfriend Mirela Forić, whom he met through their mutual friends, footballer Boško Balaban and his wife Iva.^[12][13] Their daughter Kasja was born in July 2010.^[14]

Career statistics

As of 9 May 2010

Honours

Hajduk Split

• Prva HNL: 2001
• Croatian Cup: 2000, 2003

Shakhtar Donetsk

• Ukrainian Premier League: 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010
• Ukrainian Cup: 2004, 2008
• Ukrainian Super Cup: 2005, 2008, 2010
• UEFA Cup: 2009

Individual

• Heart of Hajduk Award: 2003
• Best Ukrainian Premier League player according to sport journalists: 2008/09, 2009/10^[15]

References

External links

• Darijo profile on official Shakhtar Donetsk website
• National Football Teams – Srna, Dario Player Details
• Croatian trio expelled from squad
• Darijo Srna profile, Player Details and Picture
• Become A Croatia Fan Player Profile

Croatia Squads Croatia squad – UEFA Euro 2004 1 Vasilj • 2 Tokić • 3 Šimunić • 4 Tomas • 5 Tudor • 6 Živković (c) • 7 Rapaić • 8 Srna • 9 Pršo • 10 Niko Kovač • 11 Šokota • 12 Butina • 13 Šimić • 14 Neretljak • 15 Leko • 16 Babić • 17 Klasnić • 18 Olić • 19 Mornar • 20 Roso • 21 Robert Kovač • 22 Bjelica • 23 Didulica • Coach: Otto Barić Croatia squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Pletikosa • 2 Srna • 3 Šimunić • 4 R. Kovač • 5 Tudor • 6 Vranješ • 7 Šimić • 8 Babić • 9 Pršo • 10 N. Kovač (c) • 11 Tokić • 12 Didulica • 13 Tomas • 14 Modrić • 15 I. Leko • 16 J. Leko • 17 Klasnić • 18 Olić • 19 N. Kranjčar • 20 Šerić • 21 Balaban • 22 Bošnjak • 23 Butina • Coach: Z. Kranjčar Croatia squad – UEFA Euro 2008 1 Pletikosa • 2 Šimić • 3 Šimunić • 4 R. Kovač • 5 Ćorluka • 6 Vejić • 7 Rakitić • 8 Vukojević • 9 Kalinić • 10 N. Kovač (c) • 11 Srna • 12 Galinović • 13 Pokrivač • 14 Modrić • 15 Knežević • 16 Leko • 17 Klasnić • 18 Olić • 19 Kranjčar • 20 Budan • 21 Petrić • 22 Pranjić • 23 Runje • Coach: Bilić