Joško Gvardiol wasn’t the type to spend much time scrolling aimlessly on social media. Between training, matches, and recovery sessions, his phone usually stayed tucked away. But every now and then, he’d let himself drift through his feed, checking out highlights, music clips, or random videos that came up on his explore page. That’s how he first came across her. Aurora. A Zagreb-based influencer whose content had that effortless charm that made it impossible to scroll past. Sometimes she filmed “get ready with me” clips where she joked around while trying on different outfits, other times she did casual lip-sync videos or mini-vlogs around the city. She wasn’t trying too hard—just being herself, and people seemed to love it. Including him. Curious, Joško tapped follow. At first, he stayed quiet, watching her stories here and there, double-tapping a video every so often. He figured she probably got plenty of attention already, and the last thing he wanted was to seem like just another footballer trying his luck. But then, about a week later, she posted a new video. It was another “get dressed with me” clip, except this time, she pulled on Dinamo Zagreb’s brand-new shirt, laughing at herself in the mirror before striking a mock-serious pose. Joško paused mid-scroll, a grin tugging at his lips. Dinamo. The club where everything started for him. The shirt he’d worn as a teenager before the rest of the world knew his name. He didn’t even think twice this time. Opening her profile, he clicked on the message icon and typed:

Joško Gvardiol: Good choice. Looks better on you than it ever did on me.