Real Madrid: Luka Modric is wrong to blame his teammates for a lack of goals

Before taking the pitch Tuesday night in the Spanish capital, Real Madrid forward Luka Modric made some pretty surprising comments about the forwards he plays with. The Croatian international said the current players on the team have failed to fill the void Cristiano Ronaldo left and that is why the team has struggled.

I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I said Los Blancos needed to make a big move in the summer of 2018 to replace one of the greatest forwards of all-time. After nine years with Real and a mountain of trophies, the Portuguese star decided it was time for a change.

President Florentino Perez had a fantastic relationship with Ronaldo and continued to provide the number seven with everything he needed to succeed at Real Madrid.

What is shocking to see going on now is that lack of urgency among the board to find a suitable replacement for one of the best goalscorers the world has ever seen. Why has Perez suddenly taken such a rigid stance on signing ‘Galactico’ level players?

Remember back to the summer of 2014 shortly after the World Cup in Brazil? Perez snapped up the likes of James Rodriguez and Toni Kroos and set Los Blancos up for their La Liga triumph at the conclusion of the 2016/2017 season.

Luka Modric was the one Real Madrid player who accompanied manager Santiago Solari at the pre-match press conference yesterday. His comments on the struggles the team has had this year were direct, harsh, and simply wrong.

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"“Cristiano scored 50 goals (per season) and you can’t find a player out there who scores that many. Perhaps some of the other players had to take a step forward and not score 50, but 20… I’m not going to name names, but two or three players to score 20, 15 or 10 goals. We don’t have that and that’s our biggest problem this year.”"

These remarks – while true – have upset many fans in the Real Madrid world and has led many to believe there is a divide forming in the locker room. As it stands today, Karim Benzema is the highest-scoring player in La Liga with 11 goals. Gareth Bale sits in second with seven.

Modric has not been much of a goalscorer in his time at the club – as is expected – scoring 11 goals in league play in almost seven seasons in Spain. What I don’t understand and like about this entire situation is where the blame is being placed. Modric should hold his teammates accountable for their play, but it shouldn’t be in front of a room of media members before a Champions League match.

These matters need to be and should be taken care of behind closed doors. Luka went on to say that he has faith in his teammates, but it was too little too late in my opinion.

"“Cristiano is not here, but we can’t be complaining about that for 10 years. The club has put its faith in other players like Bale, Karim [Benzema], Mariano, Vinicius [Junior] who is doing really well… Sometimes things don’t work out as you want, but the way to solve that is by working. Madrid will always be at the top. Sometimes things don’t go well, but the team will be back.”"

Next. Real Madrid manager Santiago Solari brushes off Clásico losses, looks to Ajax match. dark

Although Real Madrid has played well in the midfield and controlled the ball well, they have not been able to finish chances in crunch time. Benzema, Bale, and Vinícius have gone ice-cold in front of goal and the results have reflected that drought.

Even though Luka Modric did defend his teammates there at the end, he shouldn’t be calling them out for not being Cristiano Ronaldo. He is a one-of-a-kind player who no one can replicate. Luka should channel his anger towards Mr. Perez.

Why didn’t you sign any big names over the summer Uncle Flo?

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