Bayern Munich loanee Josip Stanišić talks experience of Croatia call-up

When Bayern Munich loaned Josip Stanišić to Bundesliga rival Bayer Leverkusen, it was assumed that the youngster will have a chance to get more playing time consistently under Xabi Alonso than he would have playing for Thomas Tuchel in Munich.

After completing all of his passes in a nine-minute debut for Bayer Leverkusen over the weekend, it will remain to be seen just how much playing time Stanišić ultimately gets. However, when it comes time for international play, Stanišić figures to be a key player for Croatia.

The experience of playing for the consistently good Croatian side is something that has positively affected the 23-year-old.

“When I took the call from the Croatian football federation, I was in the car with my parents and my sister. My mobile phone was connected to the car and everyone was able to listen in. They told me that I would be invited to play for the senior national team. I was perplexed at first, then I looked to my right. My parents started crying, my sister was crying — it was a very emotional moment and I was very happy my family were able to experience it first-hand with me,” Stanišić told FCBayern.com in a recent interview.

Stanišić said that his parents have played an extremely important role into helping get to this stage of his career.

“They brought me to where I am now. My parents took on all sorts of hardships. My mother, no matter what happened, was always there for me and took care of everything. My father has always really pushed me. They’ve had a huge impact on me,” Stanišić said.

Playing for Croatia led to Stanišić playing in the World Cup semifinals last winter, which was a fantastic part of the defender’s young career.

“It was a huge experience. To come third with a small country like Croatia is just amazing. I’ve experienced an enormous amount of positive things in the past two years, many things I would never have dreamed of in my life,” Stanišić noted.

Now, his journey has led him to Bayer Leverkusen and Stanišić is aiming to experience more positive things over the course of the 2023/24 campaign.