The view from Zagreb: For Klasnic, just being on the pitch is a victory

When Slaven Bilic, as is becoming his wont, named his starting XI for yesterday's World Cup qualifier against Kazakhstan a day early, one name stood out. Most of the Croatian media had expected Ivica Olic to be partnered up front by Mladen Petric, but instead the coach opted for Ivan Klasnic.

"We look at the advantages and disadvantages of each player and Klasnic seems the best option," Bilic explained. "He was our best scorer in the Euros, and he's moved to a good club again. He was very good in the game against Slovenia [a 3-2 win in Maribor last month]. He's really, really hungry. Every day he really appreciates every minute that he's living."

And with good reason. This time last year there was no guarantee that Klasnic would ever play again, and a large part of him was glad simply to be alive.

The forward had been a key figure as Werder Bremen did the double in the Bundesliga in 2004, scoring 13 goals and registering 11 assists. He made his international debut later that year, and many fans blamed Otto Baric's reluctance to field him for Croatia's disappointing showing in Euro 2004.

His star seemed sure to rise, but in September the following year a routine appendix operation turned up a rare kidney condition. Doctors tried to combat it with a cocktail of drugs, but by late 2006 it was clear that his kidneys were failing and he needed a transplant.

"It was a terrible blow when I heard the news," he said. "But I believe it happened for areason. God gave me that challenge, but he also gave me the tools to overcome it."

Klasnic was advised to carry on having dialysis three times a week and to wait for a compatible kidney to become available from a recently deceased donor, but at 26 he knew that if he wanted to play again he had no time to lose. In January last year his mother donated one of her kidneys, but five days later, on Klasnic's 27th birthday, he was told his body had rejected it. His father then volunteered, and Klasnic received his kidney on 13 March. This time the operation was a success.

"I take pills every day so that my body doesn't reject the kidney," Klasnic said. "I take four or five, sometimes six, pills a day. But it's all to stop there being any problems, and I have to remember that, and they don't seem to have any side-effects, at least not that I can see.

"My parents are fine. People can live with one kidney, and they don't have to take any pills. My family is really important to me and, for now, it seems that life is going smoothly. So everything is good for me. But I think this is a great thing for football. I have shown that you can play after a transplant. I want to show that, if they have problems like mine, sportsmen should not give up. They do not have to retire."

Klasnic is not the first sportsman to return to top-level competition after a transplant. Norberto Oberburger, the Italian weightlifter, won a world championship and Jonah Lomu returned to competitive rugby after transplants. The greatest inspiration to Klasnic, though, was a basketball player, Alonzo Mourning.

"When things were hard for me, when I believed I would recover but was not sure how things would turn out, I was encouraged by an article about Mourning," Klasnic said. "I read it again and again. He played with a transplanted kidney and won an NBA title two years after his surgery. That showed that I could return and play again. It inspired me to keep fighting.

"I just went step by step, rung by rung, to get back to the top and now I'm playing maybe as well as I have played in my life."

Klasnic returned to action in November last year, but it was not until February that he managed a full 90 minutes. In 16 games – only nine of them starts – he managed seven goals, but Werder Bremen decided not to renew his contract.

After scoring against Poland and Turkey at Euro 2008 he joined Nantes, and although he is yet to score in four appearances for them, he has clearly done enough to impress Bilic.

Where so many players complain of the inhibiting pressures of pulling on an international shirt and the unrealistic expectations of international crowds, for Klasnic it is a joy even to be on the pitch.

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