Who would have thought darts major champion Chris Dobey and ex-Inter Milan midfielder Marcelo Brozovic were old mates?
Well, Dobey has revealed that he actually used to play darts on FaceTime with the Champions League finallist and Serie A winner.
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The World No.16 admitted that after a message out of the blue from Brozovic, the surprise pair played regularly together.
He had been explaining his wall of framed shirts in his office that includes matchworn kits of multiple different players.
Former Newcastle midfielders Sean and Matty Longstaff sent Dobey, a lifelong fan, their shirts, while Ipswich’s Leif Davis did too.
But Brozovic’s Inter Milan kit stood out, with the Geordie darts star explaining the bizarre story behind the shirt.
Dobey reveals surprise Brozovic story
“So, Sean and Matty Longstaff, I got them off them and Leif sent us a shirt,” Dobey revealed. “And Brozovic, I used to play online a bit with him, he’s a good hand at the darts.
“He sent us his shirt as well, I sent him a few things for the darts, but yeah, these are the ones that are match worn.”
Dobey, who won his third ranking title of the year at the end of October, left his interviewers shocked by the revelation.
And he provided more detail about his connection to Brozovic, saying: “Yeah, during lockdown, it was a random message.
“I didn’t believe it at first, but yeah, we used to have FaceTimes and we used to be on FaceTime for an hour or so while we were playing.
“It was good fun to be fair.”
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Could Brozovic have joined Newcastle?
At the time of his darts matches with Dobey, Brozovic was starring for Inter Milan, where he played a whopping 330 games.
He had played in a World Cup final with Croatia a couple of years prior to his surprise message and FaceTime darting hobby.
The now 33-year-old was very highly-rated at the time, so Dobey made sure to try and bring him to the Premier League.
“I tried to get him to Newcastle but he was having none of it!” the 2023 Masters champion admitted.
Rather than joining the Magpies, he stayed at Inter and went on to reach the Champions League final with the Italian giants.
That ended up being his final game for the Italian giants as he eventually moved to Saudi Arabia to join Al Nassr a month later.
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There, he played alongside Cristiano Ronaldo, featuring 124 times for the club, scoring eight goals and providing 23 assists.
Brozovic departed Al Nassr in the summer after three years, signing for Qatari side Al Sadd in September.
He never ended up playing in England despite Dobey’s brave punt to try and bring him to Newcastle a few years ago.
But where would the Croatian and Toon be now if he had taken the advice from his darts star pal?
