What is undoubtedly the most famous kick in Dinamo Zagreb’s history is never measured by its distance to the goal or its impact on a football match.
Although it was performed by one of the club’s most famous sons and took place on a day when the Maksimir Stadium played host to an old enemy, it did not even involve a ball being struck.
In 1990, ten years after Marshal Tito’s death, Yugoslavia teetered on the brink of all-out war.
For Croats longing for independence, sporting events had become the best environment to express political and social views.
With nationalist sentiment on the rise, Dinamo’s match against Red Star Belgrade on May 13, 1990 always felt like it was more than a football match.
From a sporting point of view it made little difference. Red Star had already sealed the title, a triumph that would see them become European champions when they defeated Marseille a year later. But that didn’t stop 3,000 fans from taking the train to Zagreb for the late afternoon kick-off.
Zvonimir Boban, the then 21-year-old skipper of Dinamo, launches himself at a police officer
Dinamo’s match against Red Star Belgrade on 13 May 1990 was abandoned after Boban’s kick
“I don’t regret it at all,” Boban said. ‘It was a fight for freedom against the regime’
Fighting raged in the city throughout the day, with violence escalating as kick-off approached.
‘That derby reflected everything that was going on in our society and daily life. Yugoslav football reflected Yugoslavia,” recalls Zvonimir Boban, Dinamo’s then 21-year-old skipper.
“It was clear that every region (region of the former Yugoslavia) would want to become an independent state,” Dinamo goalkeeper Miralem Ibrahimovic said. ‘Everyone understood that except the politicians who thought differently.’
However, no one walking to the ground that afternoon could have imagined exactly how serious the consequences of the game would be.
The atmosphere in the Maksimir was downright poisonous. On one side were Dinamo’s Bad Blue Boys, many of whom would soon fight for Croatia’s freedom.
On the other side were Red Star ultras – the Delije – many of whom were destined to soon become part of the Serbian armed forces. Among them was Zelijko Raznatovic – known as Arkan – a career criminal and murderous paramilitary who would later form the infamous Serbian Volunteer Guard.
What followed is considered by some to be the starting point of the Balkan War, which began in earnest a year later and would end with the breakup of Yugoslavia.
Long before kick-off, the Red Star hooligans began jumping fences and attacking the Dinamo fans, with the police showing little interest in intervening.
“We came out to warm up near the Red Star supporters so we couldn’t miss what was happening,” Ibrahimovic added.
‘The police did not respond adequately. They allowed them to destroy our stadium. They made them leave their booth and go to another booth where our supporters were.
‘It was chaos. There were stones and tear gas everywhere, even on the field. It became clear that we would not be able to start the match.’
The players were led to the tunnel, but some turned back because they saw how serious the situation was becoming.
The match eventually started with some delay, although the ongoing fighting in the background made it impossible for everyone involved to concentrate.
After ten minutes, Boban saw a police officer – who he assumed was sympathetic to the Serbs – hitting a Dinamo fan.
After approaching him and asking him to stop, the diplomacy was short-lived.
Overcome with rage, the midfielder sprinted towards the officer and jumped into the air, launching his right knee into his face.
“I saw that the police were only treating our fans badly and I became increasingly frustrated when I thought about all the great injustice that had been done to people, the fans and also us over the years,” he recalls.
Refik Ahmetovic, the police officer, later said: ‘Boban said something to me, but I couldn’t hear him.
‘He kept looking at me and I could see in his eyes that we were about to collide.
‘I looked over my right shoulder and saw that he was already hanging in the air with his knees and arms together. He kicked me and knocked me to the ground.”
The match was immediately stopped. On the terraces and on the field, rival fans fought each other with their bare hands. Hundreds were injured.
‘Where are the police? Where are the damn police?’ Boban was heard saying.
He later said: ‘The hooligans from Belgrade destroyed our stadium. The police at the time, which was absolutely a regime police, did not react at all.
“Here I was, a public face willing to risk his life, career, and everything that fame could have brought, all for one ideal, one goal; the Croatian case.’
Within a year, the conflict began, lasting ten years and killing more than 100,000 people.
Although the end of Yugoslavia as we knew it seemed inevitable, many believe it is impossible to underestimate the importance of that infamous match and Boban’s response.
“There were definitely tensions,” said Red Star’s European Cup-winning goalkeeper Stevan Stojanovic.
‘But what happened was a sign that Yugoslavia was about to fall apart. It turned out to be a match that marked the beginning of the end for Yugoslavia.’
The immediate consequences were that Boban was punished by the Yugoslav Football Association and suspended from the national team for six months, causing him to miss Italia 90.
Celtic will now visit the Maksimir Stadium this week on Champions League duty
However, such a sublime talent could not be suppressed for long. Already on the radar of Europe’s biggest clubs, he signed for AC Milan in 1991 for £8 million.
After initially being loaned out to Bari, he returned to San Siro and became an integral part of Fabio Capello’s magnificent squad, alongside the likes of Paulo Maldini, Ruud Gullit and Marco Van Basten.
His midfield partnership with Demetrio Albertini lifted Milan to the Serie A title in 1993 and 1994 with a scintillating 4-0 defeat to Johan Cruyff’s Barcelona to win the ’94 Champions League in Athens. He would win two more titles before ending his career at Celta Vigo.
Before that brief spell in Spain, his talent was allowed to take the international stage it deserved when he helped Croatia finish third in France in 1998.
After hanging up his boots, he completed a degree in history, wrote a thesis on Christianity in the Roman Empire, wrote columns for Gazzetta dello Sport and worked as a pundit and analyst for Sky Italia.
In a strange plot twist, he would become deputy secretary general of FIFA before taking on the role of UEFA football chief in 2021.
But his new life as a mover and shaker in football’s power centers has not changed what Dinamo fans think of him.
Some 34 years later, many fans in the cafes and bars surrounding the stadium where Celtic play on Tuesday have the image of Boban attacking Ahmetovic as a screenshot on their mobile phone.
Although most would now admit that Luka Modric, another ex-Dinamo player, has shown himself to be the best player Croatia has ever produced, Boban’s actions that day give him unparalleled status as a national hero.
“I don’t regret it at all,” Boban said in a 2021 interview. “It was a fight for freedom against the regime.”