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It was supposed to be a night of fun for Haris Seferovic.
A few hours earlier, the Swiss forward had watched from the bench as Real Sociedad beat a Barcelona side that included the likes of Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets 3-1. As soon as the game in February 2014 ended, he wasted no time and rushed to San Sebastian’s old town to celebrate his 22nd birthday. At some point, however, things got out of control.
Instead of laughing with his friends, he found himself inside a police car after allegedly pushing his girlfriend amid a heated argument.
Both were arrested but later released without charge, with no complaints filed by either party.
It appeared to be the end of the road for the rising star, who had been compared to Sociedad legend Darko Kovacevic and signed to boost their Champions League campaign.
By the next summer, Seferovic was already packing his bags for good, only wishing to put his nightmare time in Spain behind him. It has not been a smooth path, but he has managed to do so.
As Switzerland knocked world champions France out of Euro 2020 to make it to the quarter-finals of a major tournament for the first time since 1954, the Benfica player looked a new man.
He grabbed the headlines by scoring twice and will now fight to exorcise old demons when he enters the pitch in St Petersburg to face Spain on Friday. It will be the peak of his career.
The 29-year-old took much longer than expected to get to this moment.
In 2009, he had scouts raving about him after leading the Swiss to the Under-17 World Cup title and finishing as top scorer with five goals, ahead of names such as Neymar, Alvaro Morata and Mario Gotze.
Seferovic was part of a generation that also featured Arsenal’s Granit Xhaka and Torino’s Ricardo Rodriguez, both of them members of the national team at this tournament.
Ultimately, the boy whose parents had fled Bosnia to escape war moved from Grasshoppers to Fiorentina the following year. He struggled to find the net in Serie A, though, being sent out on loan three times to Neuchatel Xamax, Lecce and Novara. At the latter, he forged a productive partnership with a young Bruno Fernandes.
Above all else, Seferovic was determined to prove he was no one-hit-wonder.
“Whenever he’s on the pitch, he has a killer’s spirit,” says former Switzerland youth international Max Veloso, who played with him at Xamax. “He has a lot of confidence in himself, knows his qualities and doesn’t need anyone to tell him how good he is.
“He’s very easy to play with because he doesn’t hide from the ball.
“He’s improved a lot because in the past he didn’t have the intelligence to realise when to wait a little bit and let the centre-back forget about him.
“He was always demanding a pass and didn’t finish so effectively. But the potential was there from the beginning.”
Real Sociedad saw it too, and decided he was the right man to play in their front three with Antoine Griezmann and Carlos Vela. Despite a promising start with a stunning goal against Lyon in the Champions League, he was often embroiled in off-the-pitch controversies.
Among other things, he posted a picture with a whisky bottle following a 4-1 defeat by Barcelona and then, a while after, told the fans to shush during a goal celebration. — BBC Sport
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