Raise a Glass to the ‘fairytale’ of Ivan Klasnic.

Ivan Klasnic’s 53rd minute winner for his country against Poland, marked the end of a long, hard road for the German born striker.

In Janurary of 2007, Klasnic suffered liver failure and was rushed to hospital. His mother Šima donated her liver, but the Werder Bremen player’s body rejected the new organ. On the 23rd of March, he went back under the knife, this time receiving a liver from his father. The operation was a success and he was told he “would be able to continue playing football again”. On November 24th, 2007 after an 11 month absence Klasnic returned to the Werder Bremen team, playing 65 minutes against Energie Cottbus. A few weeks later he scored twice in Bremen’s 5-2 win over Bayer Leverkusen.

In March 08, Slaven Bilic recalled Klasnic to the Croatia national team, in preparation for the European Championships held in Austria and Switzerland. Starting against Poland, he became the first ever player to play at a major football tournament after a kidney transplant.

Croatia coach Bilic described Klasnic’s return to the top level of the game as ‘the perfect success story’. ‘We all prayed for him. We called him on the phone to encourage him, but it was actually the other way round, he encouraged us. His faith was very strong,’ Bilic said. ‘So that now not only is he healthy but he is at a very high level and he managed to be one of the top scorers at Werder Bremen in one of the strongest leagues in the world, and he played excellently there. That’s the perfect success story.’

To play football, the striker must wear a fibreglass protective shield around his chest. But despite his current successes, the man from Hamburg is taking everything one step at a time, “I’m happy that I’m here at all. As I said once, this is like a bonus from God. It’s like a dream. I thank God that I’m alive and that I can play football.”