Jonathan Wilson / Jonathan Wilson / 01 October 2009 / Leave a comment

Igor Biscan, who won the Champions League with Liverpool in 2005, is now playing his football with Dinamo Zagreb. Jonathan Wilson met the 31 year-old to talk about the Europa League, the future of Croatian football and the promising Mario Mandzukic.

"A 6-0 aggregate win over Heart of Midlothian in the play-off probably says more about Scottish football than it does of any Croatian resurgence."

Igor Biscan is morose at the best of times, but particularly so as he faces another month out following surgery. He is 31 now, but the sense he gives is of a much older player. Certainly from the way he speaks it doesn't sound as if he's likely to still be turning out for Dinamo Zagreb in four or five years time.

The Croatian champions face Timisoara, runners-up in Romania, tonight, desperate for a result (they are [3.4] to draw, [3.85] to win) after losing 2-0 at home to Anderlecht in their opening Europa League group game a fortnight ago. So bad have things become in Croatian football that even getting this far is seen as something of a triumph, a chance to raise Croatia's coefficient and thus try to secure easier draws in the future. A 6-0 aggregate win over Heart of Midlothian in the play-off probably says more about Scottish football than it does of any Croatian resurgence.

Dinamo, backed by the local municipality, are a relatively wealthy club, something that has allowed them to bring in Biscan, to sign the Chilean playmaker Pedro Morales, and to hold on to the promising 23-year-old Croatian midfielder Mario Mandzukic despite interest from western Europe.

"Financially it's much more solid than it was when I left for Liverpool," Biscan said. "But quality-wise, it's a little better but not enough. Every season we have the same story. We dominate domestically, but when we are close to entering the Champions League,
we are not good enough. This is one of the reasons we cannot compete with Euro clubs, because the team don't have enough games so when it comes to one or two tough games of course we cannot match teams from a higher level."

After leaving Liverpool following their Champions League victory in 2005 (they are [16.0] to repeat that success), Biscan joined Panathinaikos. Things didn't go well for him there, though, and after two seasons he quit the game. "I always wanted to see what it was like just to chill, to relax, to do the things you wanted to do but were not able to do," he said. "I took six months off and I stayed in my house on the coast for two or three months. I played tennis every day, which I like to do. My wife gave birth, so I spent a lot of time with my family. I really enjoyed it. But I still had a desire to play."

Rejoining the club where he began his career seemed perfect, and Biscan insists he is "happy", even if his tone and his words are not entirely convincing. "It's easier for me being home, having my family around," he said. "Of course football-wise it's not the same as it used to be. In some ways I have a better life; in some ways it can be depressing sometimes from a football point of view."

Depressing? "Football and everything that surrounds football here is far from perfect of course - the infrastructure, the quality of the football. Things have to be better if we want to keep this quality of the national team. We have to raise the level of the domestic league which is now I would say average, maybe even worse than that. So these
are the things I mean when I say it's depressing, because I don't see any progress being made.

"It's very difficult to change anything because the players who are in a position to change something, they're not really interested. From a personal point of view it's not possible to make any drastic changes that would alter the overall picture. I'm not even trying. It's not my job. There are people in positions who must do something."

Where there is hope is in Mandzukic for whom he predicts a bright future, given certain conditions. "He has potential for sure," Biscan. "He needs more difficult games to realise how difficult it is to play abroad. He has huge potential, but if he doesn't get all this experience I don't think he will fulfil."

Tonight's game is not just about the progress of Dinamo, but also of its players. A win might just, briefly, put a smile on Biscan's face.

Tags: Croatian football, Europa League betting, football bets, Igor Biscan, Liverpool Champions League winners