Croatia defender kicked off team bus after opening beer on way to game

If the footballing gods give Croatia a moment to celebrate when they face Argentina in Tuesday's World Cup semi-final, then you might see a strapping blonde bloke leaping into the bodies of Zlatko Dalic's side.

As England fans may well remember from 2018, that'll be no-nonsense centre-back Domagoj Vida. Boasting a century of caps for his country, the 33-year-old is a legendary but also infamous figure within Croatian football, having been part of Dalic's team who remarkably reached the World Cup final four years ago.

So far spending this year's tournament as an unused substitute, Vida, now of AEK Athens, is mostly known for his spells with Dynamo Kiev and Besiktas. But it was with native giants Dinamo Zagreb where he made his name - and not for all the right reasons.

Back in September 2012, when he was just a 23-year-old rookie, Vida was slapped with a €100,000 fine for having a beer on Zagreb's team bus. Nothing out of the ordinary, right? After a win, yes, but not on the way to a match.

Vida and his teammates were travelling to a cup game against a lower-league outfit Vrsar the next day when he cracked open a can of beer. Zagreb manager Ante Cacic soon spotted the young defender - who at that time had already made 23 appearances for his country - and immediately ordered him to leave the bus before the club handed him a hefty fine.

"The Dinamo management has decided to punish Vida with a financial penalty of 100,000 euros for his behaviour," the 23-time Croatian champions wrote in a statement. A local newspaper joked: "It was the most expensive beer Vida has ever had."

That episode wouldn't be the last time Vida was at the centre of controversy, as in 2018 FIFA investigated a video of him appearing to shout "glory to Ukraine " and "burn Belgrade" while drinking a bottle of beer after beating hosts Russia on penalties.

Having helped Croatia sensationally reach the semi-finals in back-to-back World Cups, Vida and co set to face Argentina on Tuesday for a place in the final. Dalic's men will be hoping to repeat the same 3-0 drubbing which they inflicted on the Lionel Messi 's side in the group stage four years ago.

And if Croatia - who've already beaten favourites Brazil on their road to the last four in Qatar - are able to pull off another shock result and reach the final once again, their boss believes that it would surpass his side's famous 2018 victory over England, as the four-million-strong country defeated the Three Lions 2-1 after extra-time.

"The semi-final match against England in the last World Cup was the greatest match of all time, the game against Brazil comes in second," Dalic affirmed on Monday. "If we win tomorrow that would make it the greatest historical game for Croatia of all time.

"It is one of the most important, most significant matches for us, after just four years to repeat the success would be such an achievement on the world stage with a new national team is fantastic and I believe it is a great success.

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'We are among the four best teams in the world, that is an extraordinary success for Croatia, it is a great thing for two World Cups in a row to be in the four best national teams in football. We want more, we are playing the great Argentina, a terrific team led by Lionel Messi, they are highly-motivated and under more pressure than Croatia at this moment in time.

"I am an optimist by nature, I do trust my players, they have demonstrated a high-level of quality, strength of character as we would not have made it to the semi-finals without that. We will not change the way we play. My pride has no limits, the sky is the limit. Everyone has a dream and my dream was to be head coach of my country but I could never have wished for this."