A Veteran Faces the Old Lady: Ivan Perišić Aims to Haunt Juventus Once More
At 36 years of age, Croatian veteran Ivan Perišić dreams of becoming the tormentor of Juventus once more as he prepares for the return leg of the Champions League playoff on Wednesday.
Despite holding a 2-1 advantage, the Bianconeri face a daunting task as they travel to the Philips Stadion with the objective of reaching the Champions League round of 16.
The blame lies squarely on the shoulders of Perišić, who scored the equalizer in the 56th minute of the first leg and is eager to repeat his heroics this week.
"We have a real chance to qualify and we’re going to seize it," the winger declared after the match, expressing his delight at "being able to play in the Champions League with PSV," having previously won Europe’s top club trophy with Bayern Munich in 2020.
"I try to do my best every day to help the team as much as possible," added Perišić, who arrived in the Netherlands in mid-September and was ineligible for the group stage.
The goal in Turin marked a sweet moment of redemption for the dynamic player, who had feared for the future of his career after tearing his right anterior cruciate ligament in September 2023 while training with Tottenham, his club at the time. The injury prematurely ended his season after just seven matches, raising the specter of an early retirement, so much so that Tottenham released him in June 2024.
Adored by his national team, a key member of the formidable Modrić generation that reached the 2018 World Cup final, Perišić fought back to fitness and earned a place in the Euro 2024 squad after a successful spell at Hadjuk Split, where his boyhood club hired him for a symbolic €1 salary. However, his love affair with his childhood club was short-lived. In August, he was released by Hadjuk’s management following disagreements with then-coach Gennaro Gattuso.
Consequently, Perišić signed a one-year contract with PSV Eindhoven, becoming the 10th club in the journeyman’s illustrious career, which has also included spells at Split, Sochaux (without ever playing a match), Roulers, Club Brugge, Dortmund, Wolfsburg, Inter Milan, Bayern Munich, and Tottenham.
"When I was released by Hadjuk, I was hoping for a real challenge. Eindhoven is the right place for me," he said in September. Five months later, he could play a cruel trick on Juve, a club that has historically been kind to him.
Between 2015 and 2022, while wearing the Inter jersey, the Croatian international (140 caps, 33 goals) scored four times against the Turin giants, most notably as the architect of Inter’s victory in the 2022 Coppa Italia final (4-2 a.p.), netting the equalizer shortly before the 90th minute and then scoring the winning goal in extra time. Bianconeri fans have undoubtedly not forgotten those exploits, with the legitimate fear that Perišić will torment them once again.
