He started his career in his hometown club Marsonia from where he moved to two Croatian capital city football clubs, first joining NK Zagreb and then signing with Dinamo Zagreb in 2007, where he was Prva HNL top goalscorer in the 2008–09 season. His prolific scoring earned him a transfer to VfL Wolfsburg in 2010. After some impressive performances at UEFA Euro 2012, where he was the joint top scorer, he was signed by Bayern Munich. In his first season with the club he won three trophies; the Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal, and the Champions League, while also becoming the first Croatian to score in a Champions League final. After winning a domestic double the following season, he left Bayern for Atlético Madrid in 2014, and a season later was signed by Juventus for €19 million, where he won the domestic double in his first three seasons, followed by another league title the following year. In the 2017 Champions League Final, he scored his second Champions League final goal, an overhead kick arching past the keeper that earned him UEFA Goal of the Season award. Mandžukić left Juventus in December 2019 for Qatari side Al-Duhail; however, after struggling to adapt, he terminated his contract and returned to Italy in January 2021, signing with Milan.