The star midfielder and driving force behind his country’s football victories in recent years, Luka Modric, leads the Croatia team into the European Football Cup finals in Germany, where the curtain is likely to fall on the final chapter of an international career full of achievements.
Modric, who will turn 39 in September, agreed to extend his contract for one year with Spanish Real Madrid, specifically until 2025, after recently winning the Champions League title for the sixth time in his career at the expense of Germany’s Borussia Dortmund (2-0).
“Luka has earned the status of the best Croatian footballer in history for a long time,” Croatian Football Federation President Marian Kostic said.
He continued, “With his sixth Champions League title, he entered football history as one of the greatest players of this era.”
Modric led his country to second place in the 2018 World Cup in Russia, and to third place in the next edition in Qatar 2022. He also played a prominent role in Croatia reaching the Nations League final last year, where it lost to Spain on penalties.
With the start of the European Cup approaching, Modric returns to Germany, where he played his first major tournament with the national team in the 2006 World Cup, only three months after his debut with the national team.
In total, he made 174 appearances for Croatia and scored 24 goals.
In his home country, fans love Modric because he maintains his humility despite the spotlight that surrounds him. The playmaker grew up as a refugee in Zadar on the Dalmatian coast after the 1990s War of Independence (1991-1995) expelled him from his hometown of Zaton Obrenovaki, in the Zadar hinterland.
After the fighting ended, the “football maniac,” who continued to play on the asphalt in front of a hotel in Zadar where his family had taken refuge, left for Dinamo Zagreb in 2000 before moving to the English ranks of Tottenham in 2008, the year during which he excelled in the European Cup.
In 2012, Modric joined Real Madrid, and since then he has not left the “White Castle”.
“It’s hard to wait”
But Modric’s white image was briefly tarnished in his homeland after he was accused of perjury during the multi-million euro corruption trial of former Dinamo Zagreb president Zdravko Mamic in 2018.
Public anger towards him waned after he led Croatia to runner-up at the World Cup in Russia, while prosecutors eventually dropped the case due to lack of evidence.
Despite the 4-2 defeat to France in the final on Russian soil, more than 500,000 people gave Modric and the national team a hero’s welcome upon their return to Zagreb.
In 2018, Modric won the Ballon d’Or, the highest individual award in the world of football, for his role in Croatia’s success in the World Cup and Real Madrid’s victory in the Champions League for the third time in a row.
At that time, he was the only one to break the dominance of the Argentine duo Lionel Messi and the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo over the award between 2008 and 2021.
Modric has long won praise from experts for his superior physical fitness, coupled with the never-ending energy he brings to the field despite his advanced age.
“He can’t wait to play for Croatia and be our captain,” national coach Zlatko Dalic told reporters in May during the announcement of the list of 26 international players.
Dalic had said in June 2023, the day after the European Nations League final, “We need him, it is a generation that has not finished the job yet,” which was a “very touching” moment for the number 10.
In a related context, the Croatian daily Vecernje List wrote in an editorial: “Modrić plays for the national team because he is still needed, because he cannot be replaced in it, and because he cares about it.”
The newspaper described Modric’s expected appearance inside the green rectangle during the European Cup in the next edition as one of the “most anticipated football moments” of the year.
She added that Croatian fans “will likely witness… the curtain fall on one of the most impressive careers of a footballer in the national jersey.”
Croatia will begin its adventure on German soil by facing Spain on the 15th of this month in Group Two, before playing its Balkan rival, Albania, and Italy, the current European champion.
As for Modric, he has not yet officially commented on his future with the national team, nicknamed “The Fiery Ones” (Vatrini in Croatian).
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