The ‘colourful’ Borna Barisic backstory that the Scottish media are reluctant to touch

Imagine a player from Scotland being in the squad for a place in the World Cup semi-final.

All sorts of background details would be brought to the fore, even the most boring and predictable stuff could come to light.

Putting a kilt on it is the term used for bringing up the Scottish angle on any major story.

Today The Sun has managed to get some quotes from the brother of Josip Juranovic on the transfer options facing the Celtic defender.

Deep in Croatia there is a far far bigger story, one that is well known in the Croatian media but it seems that the territory is a little too dangerous for the attention of the Scottish media.

Borna Barisic has been in Scotland since the summer of 2018, just last week the real edition (not the Scottish version) of the Daily Star took a look at the ‘Ibrox World Cup ace’:

Croatia and Rangers defender Borna Barisic is the son of gangster Stipe ‘The Moth’ Barisic.

Barisic is yet to feature in this winter’s World Cup having sat on the bench for every game the 2018 finalists have played so far. Zlatko Dalic’s side progressed into the Round of 16 once again, but did so as the runners-up of Group F.

While they comfortably dispatched Canada 4-1 in their second group match, their goalless draws to Morocco and Belgium ensured a rather uncomfortable progression into the knockout stages. However, if Dalic felt somewhat pressured into deploying Barisic in the coming games, it would be very hard to blame him.

Barisic came in for the match against Japan, had a mare then returned to watching from the bench against Brazil.

That is because the 30-year-old left back’s father, Stipe, is believed to be one of the chief figures in the Cepin mafia clan. Like any loving Dad, Stipe has a huge interest in his son’s career – after-all, who wouldn’t?

Unfortunately, this may not be good news for any coaching or boardroom figures Barisic encounters. Dinamo Zagreb chief Zdravko Mamic seemingly found that out the hard way when he blocked a move for Barisic in the summer of 2017.

Understandably, Barisic was furious when he found out his move to the Croatian giants had fallen through in the dying stages. Soon after publicly lambasting the club for snubbing the defender, Mamic was shot in the leg during an assassination attempt on his life, according to reports in Croatia.

The Daily Star is part of the Reach Group that includes the Daily Record, their army of readers have yet to be informed about the colourful family background of the Ibrox ace.