New Melbourne Victory striker Besart Berisha has one of the A-League’s most distinctive reputations.
A goal scoring predator in and around the 18-yard-box, he also carries the notoriety of one of the league’s most volatile characters.
Sent off three times last season, and once banned for instigating a melee against Sydney FC, Berisha makes no apologies for his high-intensity style of play.
Berisha says he plays every game as if it could be his last.
“I guess it comes, maybe, from when I was young and trying to break through in football and to get a better life,” he says.
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“This game is so important to me, because I realise that after I’d made it, I helped my family, and not just my family, but so many other people who didn’t have what I had in football.”
Berisha says away from the pitch, he’s a completely different person, joking that people say he has ‘two faces’. That off-field demeanour is helped by having a young family which added his first daughter two weeks ago.
“I have a baby girl, so yes, I am a very, very happy man here in Melbourne. I’m here, enjoying a fantastic club, with a new child as well, it’s a very special moment right now.”
In our exclusive interview, Berisha opens up about his tough upbringing, his passion for the game, and his brave move from A-League champions Brisbane Roar to his new club, which he calls the biggest in the country.
