I am a cult Premier League player who scored four goals against Liverpool; Now I run a cafe in Croatia

A former Premier League player has embarked on an unusual career path after a 16-year professional football career.

The legendary goalscorer spent almost a decade in the English top flight and captained his team, but now enjoys a low-key life running a cafe.

That man is Mark Viduka, who scored 92 Premier League goals in 240 appearances during leedsNewcastle and Middlesbrough.

Viduka is one of the Premier League's great cult heroes and first moved to England when Leeds paid £6 million to sign him from Celtic in the summer of 2000.

But his career was cut short by injury, which led him to retire at the age of 34 despite having a World Cup on the horizon and being offered the opportunity to continue his career in the top flight in England.

Now, however, he admits that he is happy living an “anonymous” life in his ancestral home of Croatia, where he has found a new calling.

Viduka is an Elland Road hero after a Leeds career in which he scored 72 goals and provided 16 assists in 166 games, including a memorable quartet of goals against Liverpool which sealed a 4-3 victory in front of the home fans.

As an AC Milan fan as a child, he attracted interest from the Italian team during his time at Leeds, but the move did not materialise.

Viduka also attracted the interest of manchester unitedfrom legendary coach Sir Alex Ferguson, but again, the move did not go ahead as the Australian star refused to join one of the Whites' bitterest rivals.

Injuries disrupted his time in Yorkshire, while Leeds' financial situation and relegation from the top flight saw him sold to Middlesbrough in 2004 for a £4.5m deal.

He joined a team that had qualified for the UEFA Cup, having won the League Cup the previous season, and adapted quickly with his impressive goalscoring form, helping Boro reach the quarter-finals of the League Cup, FA Cup semi-final and UEFA Cup final. that year.

Devastatingly, that climactic match ended in a 4-0 Sevilla defeat for Steve McClaren's side, thanks to a man-of-the-match performance from a familiar face: current Chelsea Coach Enzo Maresca, who scored two goals.

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Viduka remained at Riverside until the end of his three-year contract and, although then-manager Gareth Southgate insisted he wanted to keep the number 9, he left as a free agent with a record 42 goals and eight assists in 101 appearances in the shirt. of Boro.

He didn't get very far, however, as he made the 40-mile journey north to join Newcastle as Sam Allardyce's first signing. In a twist of fate, he scored his first goal for the Magpies against his former Boro teammates.

However, his time at St James' Park was less prolific, as injuries limited him to just 40 games, seven goals and four assists in two seasons.

In the end, Newcastle were the last club of his career as he decided to hang up his boots when his two-year contract ended in another relegation as the Magpies dropped to the Championship.

But not before intervening in a dressing room dispute between Joey Barton and Alan Shearer, telling Barton to “shut up and sit down.”

As he revealed years later, he had the chance to join Fulham and even spoke to then Cottagers boss Roy Hodgson about the move, but decided against it because he didn't want to “look like an idiot”. .

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“Roy Hodgson wanted me at Fulham,” Viduka said. We met at the Chelsea Harbor hotel,” Viduka told the daily mail in 2021.

“I said, 'Roy, I'd love to be that guy for you, man. But I can't do it.” In my head I was there, at the end of the cross. In reality, I was a divided person. second late.

“I thought, 'If I keep playing, I'm going to look like a fucking idiot.' I had to be honest with myself and with Roy. I didn't want people to remember me as someone who was only in it for the money.

“Everyone has their time. I've had mine. I'm fine with that. I enjoy the peace. I'm happy to be anonymous now.”

He was also a hero internationally, competing in two Olympic Games and the 2006 World Cup, where he captained the Socceroos under Guus Hiddink and reached the last 16.

While he was a star at home, he struggled to really perform when it mattered for his country, scoring just 11 goals in 43 appearances and none in major competitions.

He was scheduled to represent Australia at a World Cup again in 2010, but decided to retire.

He finished his career with one Australian top-flight title and cup with Melbourne Knights, three Croatian league titles and three cups with Dinamo Zagreb and a Scottish League Cup with Celtic.

However, rather than spend his retirement in Australia, he opted to put down roots in Croatia, his father's homeland.

He now lives and runs a cafe in Zagreb, where he has ex Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic among his regular clients.

He is also a friend of real Madrid star Luka Modric who has a house nearby but, despite rumors to the contrary, they are NOT cousins.

“Everyone says that,” Viduka said when asked about the Croatian icon. “He's related to my cousins ​​through marriage. But we're friends. Good guy.”

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And it seems that he is enjoying his quiet life in his ancestral land.

Speaking recently to ESPN, Viduka said: “I was always in the spotlight. A lot of pressure. Now, my only pressure is to make good beer for the customers.

“I left Australia to join Croatia Zagreb at 19 and fell in love with that lifestyle. And we always wanted to have a cafe, really for fun, where everyone was welcome. So here we are.

“Listen, my wife does all the work, I just sit here and drink coffee!

“Other than that, I play guitar. My son, Oliver, is a drummer in a band. When one of his classmates can't make it, I join in.

“We use our basement. The neighbors are not very happy about it!”