Perjalanan Hidup dan Karier

Perjalanan hidup Pasalic dibentuk oleh latar belakang keluarganya yang merupakan pengungsi dari perang Yugoslavia di Jerman, yang menanamkan mentalitas pekerja keras sejak usia muda.

"We never had a lot, money-wise, but we had love at home," tutur Pasalic.

"That's the love you get at home, that's the connection we have in our family, and also with people we met, that you have to be open, you have to become communicative."

Meski tumbuh besar di Jerman, ia memilih untuk pulang ke Kroasia demi melanjutkan karier sepak bolanya setelah sempat bermain untuk Borussia Dortmund.

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"It was important to go there, visit, and then at one point, after playing at Dortmund, I had the decision between Eintracht Braunschweig and Rijeka.

I told my father, I tried it my whole life in Germany, something is stopping me, something is not working, it's time to change everything," ungkap Pasalic.

"I told him, I'm not gonna go somewhere else where I don't know, like some other countries, or where I don't speak the language.

I want to go home."

Performa gemilang di Rijeka membuatnya dipanggil ke Timnas Kroasia dan melakoni debut melawan Latvia bersama sang idola, Luka Modric, dalam kualifikasi Euro 2024.

"When you sit in the hotel after this game, after the Croatia debut, it's an unbelievable feeling, because you sit there, and it's like a movie, and in your head you're playing the movie back," kenang Pasalic.