Croatian midfielder Marcelo Brozovic announces retirement from international football

Marcelo Brozovic. Pic/AFP

Croatia's Marcelo Brozovic has announced that he has officially retired from the national team after having played 99 games for his country. The Al-Nassr midfielder has been one of the most important parts of Croatia's midfield acting as their anchor and bidding the national team farewell in the form of an emotional letter on social media.

"You know me well enough to know that I'm not one for many words, so actually just one number would be enough for this farewell letter. 99. I had the honour of playing for the Croatian national football team so many times, and I will end my national team career with that number.

"I feel that I have gone through and achieved everything I could have wished for with Croatia and that it is time for new forces that will give that one hundred per cent because that is the only thing good enough when you perform for Croatia," read the message posted on Instagram.

This Croatian national team has often been described as the country's golden generation in the sport having reached the finals of the 2018 FIFA World Cup where they fell to France and also eliminated Brazil on their way to the semi-finals of the tournament where they lost against eventual champions Argentina.

The team has had the likes of Luka Modric and Mateo Kovacic, both of whom were mentioned by Brozovic.

"It's hard to say goodbye to the national team for many reasons, but for one reason I've been struggling for so long. It's hard to say goodbye to Luka and Kova, with whom I've been through so much and with whom it was an incredible pleasure to play. And to everyone else, because we knew how to go one hundred per cent on the field," he added.

The 31-year-old is best known for his time with Italian giants Inter Milan. Brozovic joined the Milan-based club from Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb for 5 million euros, where he went on to represent the club in 330 games before securing an 18 million euro transfer to Al-Nassr.

In the end, Brozovic acknowledged the strange question that arose in everyone's mind after hearing the news as to why the player did not complete 100 games for the country before announcing his retirement.

"Someone will ask, "Well, who is so crazy to say goodbye to exactly 99 performances"? It is more than I could have wished for, and it was better and more successful than I could have dreamed. And that's why those 99 are epic! Love you Broz!," concluded Brozovic.

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