Dado Pršo

Miladin "Dado" Pršo (born on 5 November 1974 in Zadar) is a former Croatian professional football striker. He retired in June 2007 from the Scottish Premier League club Rangers.^[1]

Career

Pršo started playing professionally in 1991 with the hometown squad NK Zadar. He was then briefly in Hajduk Split, and then in the second-league team NK Pazinka from Pazin, without making much impact in any of these clubs. In 1993 he moved to France to play for FC Rouen, and then moved to Saint Raphael in 1995, where he worked as a car mechanic while he continued playing football.^[2]

In 1996, then-AS Monaco manager Jean Tigana noticed Pršo and bought the striker, although he would spend that season in the reserve side (alongside David Trézéguet), and a further two on loan with AC Ajaccio. In 1999 he helped Monaco conquer the national championship. Pršo also helped them to the UEFA Champions League final in 2004. He is well remembered for his four-goal performance in the 8-3 drubbing of Deportivo de La Coruña (a game which was played on his birthday), in the highest scoring Champions League scoreline. That night he also equalled the competition record joining Marco van Basten (AC Milan 4 Gothenburg 0, 1992) and Simone Inzaghi (Lazio 5 Marseille 1, 2000) as the competition's top scorer in a single match.^[3]

He was part of the Croatian team at Euro 2004 where he played in three games. Pršo is remembered in this tournament for the one goal he scored against France in Leiria on 17 June 2004. Over time, Pršo became an essential part of the Croatian attack formation. He contributed numerous good plays during the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying rounds, but scored no goals during the tournament itself (where the team was eliminated after the first round).

Pršo featured on a board football game in Croatia, wearing his popular #9 jersey of the national team.

Pršo began exhibiting a somewhat peculiar problem with his knees - after every game where he played full-time, his knees swelled to the extent of him not being able to play for several days. In May 2004, Prso signed for Scottish side Rangers. He became an instant hit with the Rangers support, thanks to his energetic and powerful displays. Departing Rangers manager Alex McLeish hailed Pršo as his "best Rangers signing",^[4]at the end of the 2005/06 season.

Pršo remained a member of the 2006/07 Rangers team under Paul Le Guen, as well as under Walter Smith after Le Guen's departure, despite announcing his retirement from international football. He suggested he would retire from club football on the expiration of his contract in 2007.^[5] Despite this, Pršo's agent stated early in 2007 that he would like to continue playing for Rangers if his fitness allowed it,^[6] only to announce in February 2007 that his retirement was potentially imminent. Shortly afterwards, it was confirmed that Pršo could play on for a minimum of one season.^[7] But this comment proved to be premature as Pršo announced he would part company with Rangers at the end of the 2007 season due to his recurring knee problems.^[8] Pršo's agent also stated that he would seek a transfer to a league where physical fitness wasn't as much of a requirement, rather than end his footballing career completely, and suggested North America and Asia as possible destinations.

At Pršo's last game at Ibrox Stadium, he walked out after the final whistle wearing a brace on his leg due to damage to his ankle. He waved at the 50,000 fans who waited, and was then given the Guard Of Honour by his team mates, led by Barry Ferguson before going back up the tunnel with tears in his eyes.

It was announced on 8 June 2007 that Rangers would release a DVD featuring highlights of Pršo's three seasons at Ibrox, he will also perform tricks with a large amount of proceeds donated to the Rangers Charity Foundation.^[9]

Career statistics

^[10]

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
01.	29 March 2003	Maksimir Stadium, Zagreb, Croatia	Belgium	2 – 0	4 – 0	UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying
02.	15 November 2003	Maksimir Stadium, Zagreb, Croatia	Slovenia	1 – 0	1 – 1	UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying
03.	19 November 2003	Stadion Bežigrad, Ljubljana, Slovenia	Slovenia	0 – 1	0 – 1	UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying
04.	17 June 2004	Magalhães Pessoa, Leiria, Portugal	France	2 – 1	2 – 2	UEFA Euro 2004
05.	4 September 2004	Maksimir Stadium, Zagreb, Croatia	Hungary	1 – 0	3 – 0	2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying
06.	26 March 2005	Maksimir Stadium, Zagreb, Croatia	Iceland	4 – 0	4 – 0	2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying
07.	30 March 2005	Maksimir Stadium, Zagreb, Croatia	Malta	1 – 0	3 – 0	2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying
08.	30 March 2005	Maksimir Stadium, Zagreb, Croatia	Malta	2 – 0	3 – 0	2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying
09.	28 May 2006	Gradski vrt, Osijek, Croatia	Iran	1 – 1	2 – 2	Friendly

References

External links

• Prso Fansite
• The Men Who Matter: Dado Prso
• France Presse: Nade Hrvatske ovise o mehaničaru Prši (Croatian)
• Dado Pršo career stats at Soccerbase
• Prso's DVD

Croatia squad – UEFA Euro 2004 1 Vasilj • 2 Tokić • 3 Šimunić • 4 Tomas • 5 Tudor • 6 Živković • 7 Rapaić • 8 Srna • 9 Dado Pršo • 10 Niko Kovač • 11 Šokota • 12 Butina • 13 Šimić • 14 Neretljak • 15 Leko • 16 Babić • 17 Klasnić • 18 Olić • 19 Mornar • 20 Rosso • 21 Robert Kovač • 22 Bjelica • 23 Didulica • Coach: Otto Barić

Croatia squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Pletikosa • 2 Srna • 3 Šimunić • 4 R. Kovač • 5 Tudor • 6 Vranješ • 7 Šimić • 8 Babić • 9 Pršo • 10 N. Kovač • 11 Tokić • 12 Didulica • 13 Tomas • 14 Modrić • 15 I. Leko • 16 J. Leko • 17 Klasnić • 18 Olić • 19 N. Kranjčar • 20 Šerić • 21 Balaban • 22 Bošnjak • 23 Butina • Coach: Z. Kranjčar