Dado Prso, the mechanic who became a cult hero

Sixteen years ago, the last time a French side played in a Champions League final, a motor mechanic of Croatian descent was writing his unique story. Miladin was his first name, but he would commonly be known as Dado Prso.

November 5, 2003, his 29th birthday, Prso scored four goals in the 8-3 Monaco’s demolition of Deportivo La Coruna, becoming the first footballer to do so in the Champions League.

Domestically, Monaco were battling Lyon and Paris Saint-Germain for the league title, and in Europe, beating the visiting Spaniards would propel them atop Group C.

Deportivo, who would later knock out defending champions Milan in the quarterfinals, boasted a solid defence and gifted forwards like Diego Tristan, Roy Makaay and Juan Carlos Valeron.

But within just 11 minutes, Monaco were 2-0 up, thanks to wingers Jeremy Rothen and Ludovic Giuly. Then Prso joined the party.

To stop the bloodletting, before halftime, Deportivo coach withdrew his trusted goalkeeper Jose Francisco Molina, who had only conceded once in the past three games, and brought in Gustavo Munua. But the scoreline kept soaring.
Prso, 6ft3, used his physical strength to devastating effect, scoring two with his head, and two with his feet.
“I got the prize from the heavens for my hard work. That was a really great birthday gift and maybe my best game ever,” Pršo wrote in his biography.

Now the world wanted to know more about the gangly ruthless striker. A year before, he had scored 12 goals in 20 games, a far better improvement after eight goals in 52 games.

But before the Deportivo game, after missing five of the first seven league fixtures, he had scored only twice in the 2003-04 season.

Fernando Morientes, on loan from Real Madrid, was manager Didier Deschamps’ favourite forward but had a sore thigh and Prso got the nod. He wrote his name in the annals of the Champions League in indelible ink. Not many footballers score four in a match, moreover on their birthdays.

“It was the first game I had started in the Champions League and I had been so frustrated I was burning with desperation to play. I wanted to prove that I’m always here, that when Morientes is absent I can be a solution,” Pršo said post-match.

After that game, Pršo’s scored again in the 1-0 elimination of Lokomotiv Moscow in Round of 16. He also opened the scoring in the 3-1 win over Chelsea in the semifinals first leg, with Morientes and DR Congo’s Shabani Nonda sealing the victory.
After the 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge, Monaco became the first French team to reach the final since Olympic Marseille in 1993.
The mechanic-footballer
Ten years before then, his football future looked bleak. In 1992, he had only scored two goals in 26 games with NK Pazinka, the team that gave him his first professional contract in the Croatian league after Hadjuk Split had denied him one due to heart problems.

Fleeing war with his family, he settled in France, where the teenager played for several lower-league sides with limited success.

He needed a job for a living. Motor mechanics was the resort, a job he did concurrently until football gave him enough income.

Prso’s first glimpse of hope came in 1996, after a man-of-the-match performance for fourth-tier St Raphael, in a friendly against giants Monaco. French legend Jean Tigana, who was the Monaco manager, was impressed and gave him a chance.
But with future World Cup winners David Trezeguet and Thierry Henry at Monaco, Prso’s first-team chances were obviously limited. He was loaned to Ajaccio, a team he helped get promoted to Division Two.
When Prso returned to Monaco, Henry was gone but Trezeguet and Italian Marco Simone had formed an unbreakable duo that scored 43 goals as Marcelo Gallardo’s team won the 1999-2000 Division 1 [French League] title. Blighted by injuries, Prso only scored twice in 20 appearances.

In 2000/01, he scored four times before managing just 11 games and two goals in the 2001/02 season. At 27, he looked a spent force. Then he formed a terrific duo with Nonda which terrorised defences before Morientes intruded. Nonda scored 26 goals, Prso 12. Lyon took the league but many thought that had Prso not missed half the season injured, Monaco would have won it.

That form attracted the attention of the Croatian FA, which gave Prso a chance to play for the national team.
But he was still a stranger and not many were excited. However, he proved doubters wrong by scoring a brace on his international debut, a 4-0 win against Belgium in the Euro 2004 qualifier in March.

Pršo won over the hearts of the Croats, scoring in both legs against Slovenia, who Croatia had a border dispute with. Croatia was still not over the retirement of the Davor Suker generation that ahd propelled them to a surprise World Cup semifinal in 1998, but the emergence of Prso resurrected their hopes. Thanks to him, they qualified for Euro 2004.

At the tournament in Portugal, after a goalless draw with Switzerland in Group B, Prso scored a beauty in a 2-2 draw against defending champions France, but a 4-2 loss to England left Croatia in third place.
The final
In the 2003-2004 Champions League final, Monaco had more pedigree per capita than Porto: manager Deschamps was the captain of the Marseille side that won in 1993; Morientes had won the trophy thrice with Real Madrid.
Porto had won the trophy in 1987, but Jose Mourinho’s men were all first-timers.

Also Morientes and Prso were the best strikers in the competition boasting nine and seven goals, respectively, while Porto’s best was South African Benni McCarthy. Still, Deschamps left Prso on the bench.

However, the Croatian replaced the injured Giuly after 23 minutes, but Monaco lost 3-0 in what was Prso’s last appearance for the club having already signed for Scottish giants Rangers in the summer.

The legacy

Born near Zadar in a Serbian family, Prso became the first Serb to play for Croatia since the Yugoslav civil war and Croatia’s independence.

His nine goals in 32 games did not propel Croatia to a knockout game, but his hard work and personality won him the Franjo Bučar State Award for Sport, the highest recognition for extraordinary sports contributions in Croatia. He also became an idol for Croatian children.

After Euro 2004, Rangers fans instantly fell in love with Prso. He returned the favour with 18 goals in 34 league appearances and Rangers won the league and a League Cup.

Injuries dented his next two seasons but in 2006 manager Alex McLeish hailed Pršo as his “best Rangers signing.”
The fans were even more affectionate. After Prso’s last game at Ibrox, he walked out with a brace on his leg after damaging his ankle. Pršo waved at the 50,000 fans who waited for him. Teammates gave him the Guard of Honour.
“There’s only one Dado Prrršooo,” the fans sang He just waved, went back up the tunnel with tears in his eyes. This does not happen to every player. It happens to those fans deem special. And to the Rangers fans, the ponytailed striker was special.

BRIEFLY
Born. November 5, 1974 (age 45)
Place of birth. Zadar, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia
Height 6 ft 3
HONOURS
Monaco
Ligue 1: 1999–2000
Coupe de la Ligue: 2002-03
Trophée des Champions: 2000
INDIVIDUAL
Croatian Footballer of the Year: 2003, 2004, 2005
SPL Player of the Month: February 2005, May 2005
Franjo Bučar State Award for Sport: 2005
SN Trofej Fair-play: 2005
John Greig Award: 2007
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