Born in the central Serbian small town of Krnjevo (Velika Plana municipality), Tirnanić was still in infancy when his working-class family moved to the capital Belgrade.

He barely remembered his father, a metal factory worker who died in 1914 as part of the Serbian Army World War I effort.

Raised by a single mother, young Tirnanić quickly developed a love for football, which he played endlessly at Bara Venecija pitches on the Sava River's right bank.

He made his first-team senior debut as a 17-year-old, quickly marking himself out as an able and temperamental player, and forming a midfield partnership with Moša Marjanović.

Later he has been beaten by Manuel Rosas in 1930, Pelé in 1958, Michael Owen in 1998, Dmitri Sychev in 2002 and latest Lionel Messi in 2006, which makes him the sixth youngest goalscorer in the FIFA World Cup.