Oliver Sarkic was having breakfast in Mauritius, simply three days into his honeymoon, when his telephone rang.
It was his father, Bojan. In a faltering voice, he informed Oliver that his twin brother, Matija — the Montenegro and Millwall goalkeeper — had collapsed.
“I used to be shocked however then his subsequent sentence was ‘and he died’,” Oliver recollects. “I didn’t actually consider it. It was devastating.”
Matija was simply 26 years previous. The reason for his demise remains to be to be decided however his household have been informed he suffered sudden coronary heart failure. He had been on vacation together with his companion Phoebe, the previous Aston Villa defender Oscar Borg and his girlfriend.
Matija died 10 days after he was named man of the match for Montenegro in a pleasant in opposition to Belgium and only a week since he acted as finest man at Oliver’s marriage ceremony, together with their older brother Danilo and a childhood pal.
“That was the final time I noticed him alive,” Oliver informed The Athletic. “It’s bittersweet however it’s an incredible final reminiscence to have.
“We had been at all times collectively. There was no Matija with out Oliver and no Oliver with out Matija. We got here as a bundle. He was half of me. I’ll at all times have nice reminiscences of him however I want we might make new ones like we did on the marriage ceremony.”
Matija, a considerate, studious and massively in style participant for each membership he represented, was coming ever nearer to fulfilling his dream to play within the Premier League having simply loved a wonderful season with Millwall within the Championship.
That dream has now been cruelly snatched away, leaving his household and associates struggling to return to phrases with seeing a younger man within the prime of his life taken far too quickly.
After ending the season with Millwall, Matija flew to Turkey after which Spain with Andy Marshall, his goalkeeping coach since his time at Aston Villa, to arrange for Montenegro’s pleasant match in opposition to Belgium on June 5.
For Matija, who spent nearly all of his childhood in Belgium, it was a sport that carried further which means and gave him the prospect to line up in opposition to previous associates from Anderlecht’s academy, together with Wout Faes and Orel Mangala.
The additional coaching paid off, as he pulled off a string of excellent saves and was named man of the match in Montenegro’s 2-0 defeat. It was, as Bojan tells The Athletic, “the perfect sport of his life”.
Sarkic makes one among a number of nice saves in his final match, for Montenegro in opposition to Belgium (Peter De Voecht / Photograph Information through Getty Photos)
Tragically, it was additionally his final.
Matija was given permission to overlook Montenegro’s subsequent sport, a pleasant in opposition to Georgia, to attend the marriage of Oliver — additionally an expert footballer, having had spells at Leeds United and Blackpool — in Guimaraes, northern Portugal, on June 8.
Afterwards, he returned to the UK earlier than travelling to Montenegro for a mini break. Having landed within the nation on Friday, he spent a day on the seashore and proudly confirmed off his newly furnished condo within the coastal city of Budva on the Adriatic coast.
Nonetheless, within the small hours of Saturday morning, Matija awoke feeling unwell and collapsed shortly afterwards. Borg’s girlfriend, a nurse, administered CPR till an ambulance arrived and paramedics then tried their very own resuscitation, however with out success.
“It was an prompt demise,” Bojan stated. “He was not struggling.”
Bojan was informed his son had handed away at 6am and it fell to him to tell Oliver. He and his new spouse, Natacha, instantly minimize brief their honeymoon, flying again to Montenegro through Dubai and Albania, to attend his twin brother’s funeral on Monday.
“The traditions listed here are that brothers place their brother into the coffin,” stated Oliver. “So me and my brother and the 2 employees from the morgue picked Matija up and positioned him gently within the coffin. He appeared peaceable and he was in his nationwide workforce package.
“Within the area of per week, we noticed the identical folks (who had been at his marriage ceremony). We went from the best excessive to the bottom low.”
A memorial service was organised the next day by the Soccer Affiliation of Montenegro, attended by the nation’s president, the place Oliver gave a tribute.
“I stated in my speech that I’ll at all times keep in mind him as he was final: a tall, good-looking, good man, a loving brother and a vastly proficient goalkeeper, hardworking and devoted.”
Matija was buried together with his grandparents, Beba and Alija, in the principle cemetery in Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro.
“They each believed in him a lot,” Bojan stated. “My mom selected the identify Matija and my father was a footballer who at all times stated he would make it as an expert. Now he’s with each of them.”
Matija, who was fluent in English, French, Dutch and Montenegrin, was born in Grimsby and spent his early childhood in London earlier than his father’s work for the Montenegrin authorities took the household to Brussels when he was seven. His mom, Natalie, labored as a authorities official and British diplomat and now runs her personal enterprise combating disinformation within the media.
Soccer was at all times an obsession, and Oliver remembers how he and Matija would commute an hour and a half throughout Brussels to high school, loaded up with their books and soccer package, and get house at 10pm after coaching.
Matija (proper) and his twin brother Oliver on the Anderlecht academy in 2004 (Oliver Sarkic)
Matija started life as a defender however switched to goalkeeper when a niche wanted filling someday for his Sunday league workforce, Chelham, a play on the names Chelsea and Fulham. There he discovered his calling, modelling his sport on Claudio Taffarel; as a 10-year-old, he would examine movies of the Brazilian goalkeeper, attempting to choose up suggestions.
“You wouldn’t count on a 10-year-old to enter such element, however that was him,” Bojan remembers. “He grew to become actually skilled, interested by each element. He wished perfection.”
Matija returned to England after signing for Aston Villa in 2015, the start of a nomadic journey by means of the English league system that included mortgage spells at Wigan Athletic, Stratford City and Havant & Waterlooville, in addition to Scottish membership Livingston.
He ultimately signed with Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2020 earlier than occurring additional loans to Shrewsbury City, Birmingham Metropolis and Stoke Metropolis. Final July, he joined Millwall on a everlasting deal and eventually appeared to have discovered his house from house.
Sarkic in motion for Aston Villa in 2017 (Malcolm Couzens/Getty Photos)
Each team-mate and supervisor spoken to by The Athletic spoke of an impeccably behaved particular person, who had time for everybody and remembered those that had helped him. At Stratford, for instance, he remained in touch with folks on the membership even when taking part in at a a lot increased degree.
He was additionally a devoted skilled, decided to succeed in the highest of his sport. He spent hours, for instance, mastering the side-on volley out of his palms that stays low by means of the air.
He was additionally remembered for his skill to gentle up a room, sense of humour and mischief, infectious vitality, love of journey and good espresso. He was so enthusiastic about espresso that he had a station at house, christened the ‘Sarkic Lounge’.
“All the things he did was enjoyable,” Bojan recalled. “He did all of it with a smile and that was him. My mom was an actress, and she or he referred to as Matija ‘Granny’s actor’ as a result of he was at all times making enjoyable round her, dancing, doing foolish little issues.
“His favorite was Borat (Sacha Baron Cohen’s movie character), and as soon as at Millwall, once they went out at Christmas, they dressed him as Borat. He did one thing comparable at Birmingham: he purchased a plastic Lamborghini and got here into the dressing room dressed like Troy Deeney, as a result of Troy had a Lamborghini. It was at all times to have a little bit of enjoyable and make folks smile.”
At Wolves, he solid an in depth friendship with membership captain Max Kilman.
“We immediately bought alongside,” Kilman stated. “We had comparable morals in life. He was very humble, labored actually laborious, wished to be the perfect and had labored his manner up the ladder in soccer. He simply wished to maintain bettering.
“He would exit of his manner to assist everybody — not simply in soccer however in life. He spoke 4 languages so when the supervisor — Bruno Lage and Julen Lopetegui for some time — would clarify one thing, Mati would translate for the French boys within the squad.
“Everybody would say the identical: you may’t say a foul phrase about him. We constructed up an actual connection. It’s so unhappy.”
Kilman stated he was planning to meet up with Matija this summer time in London as soon as he’d bought again from his holidays.
Fellow goalkeeper Harry Burgoyne, who spent a season with Matija at Shrewsbury City, remembers having breakfast with Matija each morning and taking it in turns to purchase smoked salmon.
Sarkic taking part in for Shrewsbury City in 2020 (Nathan Stirk/Getty Photos)
“The membership didn’t present it however Mati had a cope with the physios the place if he stored a clear sheet they’d convey him a espresso,” stated Burgoyne, who additionally performed for Wolves.
“Then it changed into smoked salmon and we began to get pleasure from it so we’d convey it in. He at all times managed to discover a higher high quality smoked salmon so it was at all times good when it was his flip since you knew you had been getting the perfect of the perfect. He additionally launched me to a Montenegro-style espresso, which was very robust.”
Matija’s willpower to extract each final drop of his expertise was apparent to all who knew him. Oliver remembers how he would have a chalkboard in his kitchen the place he would jot down issues he wished to enhance. “He would have a look at that day-after-day and that will encourage him to maintain pushing for his targets,” he stated.
At Birmingham, Matija had a difficult begin to his profession. However reasonably than shrinking, or retreating into himself, he made some extent of searching for counsel from these round him.
“He had made a number of errors and he got here to myself and Andy Marshall and requested questions,” stated Neil Etheridge, one other goalkeeper on Birmingham’s books on the time. “It confirmed how humble he was to hunt recommendation from individuals who had been within the sport longer than him. From there, he kicked on once more and a few video games later he was again on it with man-of-the-match performances once more.”
For the managers he performed below, Matija was the proper participant: desperate to study and somebody who might soak up and retain info in a short time.
“He was very skilled, respectful and well-mannered; a supervisor’s dream,” stated Lee Bowyer, his supervisor at Birmingham. “You knew when he stepped onto the pitch that he’d offer you every little thing he might. As a personality across the place, he was well-liked. Everybody revered him. He was one of many good guys.”
Matija Sarkic was favored and revered in any respect his golf equipment (Nathan Stirk/Getty Photos)
Gary Holt, his supervisor at Livingston, agreed.
“He was a younger man with an previous head on his shoulders,” he stated. “He was very respectful, very humble however very pushed. He had superb perception in his personal skill. If I ever wanted somebody to do one thing he’d at all times say, ‘No downside, gaffer’. He was a credit score to his household, the way in which he behaved, the way in which he carried out himself, the way in which he carried himself.
“When he first signed, we sat him down and informed him he wasn’t going to begin,” Holt stated. “He was actually aggravated. He stated, ‘I settle for it however I’m higher than him (the opposite goalkeeper).’ I believed, ‘Truthful play to you’. He didn’t down instruments, he didn’t throw a huff as a result of as a younger man; it’s straightforward to try this. He fought laborious in coaching, he pushed the opposite goalkeeper, he wasn’t damaging, he was hungry to get in. And when he bought in, he was completely excellent.”
When Matija began his footballing journey, he had two primary goals. One was to signify his nation, which he achieved, profitable 9 senior caps. The opposite was to play within the Premier League, an ambition he was so near realising.
For his heartbroken household, in fact, not seeing Matija realise his big potential as a footballer is simply a part of their grief. The outlet left of their lives by his demise won’t ever be crammed.
Matija (proper) and Oliver after a sport for Montenegro Below-19s in opposition to France (Courtesy of Oliver Sarkic)
“Nobody ever believed we had been twins and the following query we had been requested was at all times who was older,” Oliver stated. “The reply was that Matija was older by three minutes. However that query of who’s older isn’t going to be requested once more. Now I’m older than him and that has hit me laborious as a result of I used to be at all times the youngest one. And now his journey has ended.”
Extra reporting: Gregg Evans
(High picture: Getty Photos; design: Eamonn Dalton)