Real Madrid midfielders Dani Ceballos and Luka Modric clash during international match
By Ben Sundock
Luka Modric and Dani Ceballos may be teammates at Real Madrid, but that friendship did not carry over to international duty this week. The two midfielders had some tense moments during Croatia’s 3-2 win over Spain causing some concern amongst fans.
“I have had a small problem with [Luka] Modric,” Dani Ceballos told reports following the UEFA Nations League match on Thursday in Zagreb. The young Spanish midfielder started for his national team and bagged a nice goal in the second half.
However, that is not the storyline that came out of this match. Tasked by former FC Barcelona manager Luis Enrique to shadow Modric the entire match, Ceballos was clearly a little frustrated with his teammate in the post-match pressers.
“Nothing important, things that remain on the pitch,” he went on to say. “Luka is a great player and person.”
The two had a few separate clashes throughout the course of the match with the two nearly coming to blows when Ceballos pushed Modric. Luka, at one point, touched Dani on the face while talking with him after another clash.
The two looked far from teammates who feature at the same position on Wednesday night, but, it seems that the competitive nature from both and the desire to play for the badge on their jerseys was the reason for the altercations.
“He defended his country and I defended mine,” Luka Modric said of what transpired. “It’s normal, then we gave each other a hug. I’m sure we’ll have a joke about it in Madrid.”
It is good to hear both of the players shrug aside what happened during the match as the two share the same position and play a big role in Santiago Solari’s team. If it had come out that there was some kind of beef between the two, I wouldn’t have been all that surprised.
Dani Ceballos has struggled to break into the first-team with regularity since moving to the Spanish capital in the summer of 2017 because of the fantastic play of Modric, Toni Kroos, and Casemiro.
This year has been different for Ceballos as he has shown that he can be a reliable link up player in the midfield with his classy passing and dribbling.
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Modric and Ceballos both received the same match rating from WhoScored at 7.3 out of 10. Ceballos scored the opening goal for Spain and Modric assisted on Tin Jedvaj’s first goal of the night in the second half.
Spain will take on Bosnia and Herzegovina on Sunday while Croatia will face England.