The secret in Luka Modric's attic
Written by Ruairidh Barlow
Whether travelling for business, pleasure or merely transiting through, it should be one of the first things you see. Cruising into the city of Zagreb from the Franjo Tudman Airport on the short journey, as you reach the outskirts, its sheer size and imposing nature might very well be the first impression of Croatia for new visitors. For those unfortunate souls who do not fill their free time with football, or even just the World Cup, it should send them scrambling to their search engine, trying to work out who or what it is. It should be 50 feet high, visible on the skyline, intimidating. To give him a regular-size statue would do nothing to convey the incredible size of the tiny man in Croatia’s midfield, no, the monument to Luka Modric must be gargantuan.
Once again at the end of 120 minutes of top class football, following penalties, it was Modric with his arms raised, victorious against all the odds. Quite literally, Brazil were heavy favourites not just for this match, but also the entire tournament. Croatia knocked out Brazil in extremis, as they always seem to do.
There is a danger that Modric, the undisputed star of this Croatia, absorbs too much of the attention. A series of monstrous performances around Modric were in process too. Josko Gvardiol, Mateo Kovacic, Marcelo Brozovic, Josip Juranovic and Dominik Livakovic were all worthy of rich, indulgent pieces on their roles in this historic victory too. Yet for Modric to continue to do so, towards the end of his second decade in the game, remains hard to fit into our accepted truths about age.
A look at his numbers will tell you he had an excellent match; 139 touches, 105 passes made out of 111 attempted, 9 duels won, six successful long passes out of eight attempted and four ball recoveries. Like the standard issue statue though, it would be wholly unjust to measure his impact on the game. Modric appears when it matters most, with a sense for making the right move that shouldn’t be possible without a wide-angle view of the pitch.
The equalising goal itself, of course, begins with Modric. Controlling the ball with his chest, he gives his marker the slip all in one action, before laying the ball into the path of an onrushing Nikola Vlasic, behind his marker. It gives Croatia a four-on-four attack, and ten seconds later, the ball is in the net. Before the tournament, while adding his always astute insight into the Brazil national team, Tim Vickery would answer that the one unknown weakness with the Seleção, was what would happen if a side could beat their press? Modric took it upon himself to do just that, with four minutes to go.
Recency bias means that on some level, we always denigrate the past in sport. The game evolves, ‘that could never happen today’, says the current generation. When people cast back to Pelé or Real Madrid of the 1960s, they dismiss the goals they scored with the supposed primacy of the time. Fifty years on, when football fans look back at the records and marvel at how a 37-year-old Modric was able not just to hold his own, but outplay the best in the game on the biggest stages, it should be noted that it is to Modric’s credit rather than any faults of the ages.
Looking at Modric before his penalty, you see his age. Without wanting to be disrespectful, his pale skin, sunken eyes and lined face betray him. If Dorian Gray sold his soul for eternal beauty, to appear irresistible and retain his youth for as long as he may please, then somewhere in the Croat’s house in Madrid, locked in his attic, is a portrait of an exhausted, broken, finished footballer.
Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of words have been written about Modric at this point, lauding velvet praise on him. Statues, numbers, words won’t do the eternal footballer justice - these words are just a few more, that hopefully help to spend a little more time thinking about just how incredible all of this is.