The blanket, resting in peace! You lived football, laughed forever and wished everything. And then you go like this

I used to watch him from the stand, I was still a kid, and Nikola was at the beginning of his senior career. There was always a joke at the expense of his surname, but mostly they were positive because he was well -covered ‘left side of the terrain and was a big talent, so he went to Dinamo in Zagreb and later the Monaco road, etc., played in a’ fiery ‘jersey and made a top career. A boy from Međimurje has won three times and Hodgkin’s lymphomaand then he died because of someone else’s nonsense, unnecessary overtaking over the full line, and he just came back from training.

He was often a guest in the 24 Hours studio, commented on ‘Fire’ and HNL matches, and always brought some dose of calm and joy. Whether he was in a tracksuit or something festive, Nikola was always, but he was always a boy who knew how to dress. There were regular jokes about how I had to go to teaching, some accelerated course or something to be as pleasing to the eye as he was, but modestly ‘down the ball on the ground’ with ‘what you miss, you are good for me’. As I pointed out, I used to look at him from the stands, and 18 years later he joked with him in front of a small shop in the neighborhood.

Photo: 24sata/Facebook live

– What are you doing here? – I heard from the back and turned to see the always smiling face.

We realized that we became neighbors, later seeing each other in the neighborhood, and Nikola once made a move of a real friend. It was the summer of 2021 and the European Championships, my colleague Tironi and I was left without a guest on the studio show, and the blanket contacted us from the sea. And he agreed to come, he just apologized that he might be late because we told him at the last minute. Hey, he still apologized … And he arrived, as always smiling, in a new fashion combination, but always ready to discuss his favorite ‘fiery’ and football.

He later played in many humanitarian tournaments, always appeared and supported such things because he knew what he had gone through in his life and how many times it meant in that little support, was a coming to the tournament or a beautiful word in the passage. More than anything, he loved his daughter, but in some things such pain it is better not to go into words, because at the very thought of tears, they only pursue down the cheeks. When he brought himself to the apartment from the match, I glanced at the Nikola building, an apartment he would never return to again.

Guests at the 24 Hours Studio for a football match Croatia -Maroko |

Photo: Zeljko Lukunic/Pixsell

And then a message came to my cellphone ‘I tell me guys that she was in negotiations for coming to Varteks’. Just last year, we recalled this never -wrapped Cup when Rijeka celebrated in Varaždin in 2006, as he stood in the field in the field in the jersey of the once large Varaždin first -team player, and I look at it.

The very thought that the last season of Nikola’s career was to play in a cheerleader jersey Vartekswith support White Stones who were there when he was moving to a senior career. It was supposed to be one top story, a kind of full circle that was supposed to make ‘Kripo’ as his friends called him. And after winning the cancer three times, he returned to the field three times, and again came to full lungs, he went in such a stupid way, without any fault.

Thank you for every smile, every beautiful word, coming to the studio and reporting over the phone, talking in a neighborhood, a short greeting, or just waving in passing. Our blanket, rest in peace.