Matija Sarkic did me like a kipper as funny tunnel moment made me smile despite devastating news
dailyrecord.co.ukAn English top-flight whistler has penned a glowing tribute to Matija Sarkic - and shared a hilarious story of his only experience with the late goalkeeper in the build-up to a game eight years ago.Sarkic sadly passed away at the age of just 26 on Saturday morning after collapsing in an apartment in Budva, Montenegro..
The goalkeeper started his career with Aston Villa, but enjoyed his breakthrough season on loan at Livingston in the 2019/20 campaign, where he made 14 appearances in the Premiership.
Sarkic also enjoyed decent loan spells with Shrewsbury, Birmingham and Stoke and at the time of his death had just completed a fine season with Millwall, playing in 32 of their 44 Championship matches.Although he was born in England, Sarkic decided to declare for Montenegro - where his father Bojan was born - at international level, and represented them from U17 level all the way up to the senior team, where he won seven caps, the last of which came in a friendly defeat to the Belgium, where he was named as man of the match despite making nine saves.But the fact that he has born and raised in Grimsby in North East Lincolnshire was completely lost on top whistler Bobby Madley, who has revealed he was the victim of a stitch-up by Sarkic when he officiated a Montenegro youth game back in 2016.
In an emotional message shared on X, Madley wrote. "Terrible news this week that 26 year old footballer, Matija Sarkic passed away while on international duty.
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