Having spent almost his complete profession in the shadows of more memorable partners, lastly, Luka Modric gets himself centre stage.

At Real Madrid, Luka’s work frequently remained ignored owing to Cristiano Ronaldo‘s exploits whilst even at Spurs it was Gareth Bale who one and all full of praise for.

Perhaps currently that will transform after Modric led and enthused Croatia to their first-ever World Cup concluding courteousness of a 2-1 extra-time triumph over England in the Luzhniki Stadium.

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“It is very difficult to find words to express what I feel right now. Generation ’98 finished third in France and it was the biggest sporting feat of Croatia. Now we have overtaken them. Look at how the people are celebrating,” the Croatian captain said.

Following that outcome, Modric has entered the second position in the running to be the victor of the World Cup Golden Ball plus the 2018 Ballon d’Or as per the bookies.

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Luka is a complete team performer who boasts of far bigger fish to fry than captivating either or both individual honours but the gratitude that the 32-year-old (33 in September) is currently getting is long overdue.

There are some contestants who have been more powerful to their nation at this World Cup as compared to Modric. Just two performers have finished more passes than Modric in Russia and just 3 have created more likelihoods than him.

“Much has been said of the individual talent that this Croatia squad possesses but there hasn’t been all that much praise directed towards the man who has knitted the team together so effectively; the manager Zlatko Dalic.”

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Like Messi, Modric is the lucky charm of his squad but not like Messi, he has encompassed a brilliant support cast at his back.

Greater experiments wait for Modric and his Croatian colleagues in the final on Sunday.

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As hopeful as England’s presentations in Russia has been they were not capable of stemming the Croatian tide from the 46th minute onwards as Croatia’s midfield trio detained control over the game.

Published by Mamatha on 13 Jul 2018