Real Madrid: In recognition of one of the GOATs, the tireless Luka Modric

Another season and yet the same tireless, world-class Luka Modric. Real Madrid plays a 4-3-3 which has a high level of dependency on the midfield. At the start of the season, many speculated an increased role of Federico Valverde pairing with Carlos Casemiro and Toni Kroos. The main concern was the health of the Croatian star. How will Modric start every game at the age of 36?

Many people had varied opinions. Some said that he will continue to play regularly since he plays a very important role in the games and is one of a kind. While others argued that with age, his stamina will decrease and his body won’t allow much exertion leading to fatigue.

I had a pretty neutral opinion of it. Luka Modric is a flexible player, an all-rounder. He is a player no coach would want to bench. So, in my opinion, keeping his age in mind he should play regularly. Not start every game, but play all the crucial fixtures and some important ones to keep his form. Also, subbing him off when his job is done to prevent him from picking up an injury.

Well, what has happened so far has surprised everybody. It is astonishing to see how easily Modric plays. He is so smooth with the ball and has outplayed many young midfielders with ease. Yet again, Modric has proved his worth, and his absence on the pitch is felt every time by the team as well as the fans.

This season started pretty poorly for Modric. Firstly, the Croatian national team led by Luka himself could not stay in the tournament for a much longer time and was knocked out of the competition in the Round of 16. The sad part was that Modric was being scapegoated for the poor results of the team, even though he was by far, Croatia’s best player on the pitch.

After the Euros, Modric started the first few games of Real Madrid. His performances were not at all satisfactory. Not up to the usual high standard he has set for himself. The Croatian had not even gained the rhythm when he suffered some adductor problems and had to be sidelined for around 20 days.

Many Twitter trolls started calling him “finished”. But as they say, everyone has good and bad days. After the rough patch, Modric knew that his good days were coming back again. The 36 year old was highly motivated to come back stronger and make a statement.

He came back and showed the world that he is not someone to mess with. Despite the slow start to the season, Modric returned from the injury full of confidence and since then, has dropped master class performances against all the teams, including top teams like Atletico Madrid, Athletic Bilbao, Barcelona, Real Sociedad, and Sevilla, the teams I thought would be Real Madrid’s toughest opponents of the season.

Luka Modric is putting up outstanding numbers for Real Madrid this season

After spending 9 prime years of his life at Real Madrid winning numerous trophies, the Croatian was awarded the responsibility of captaining the club. It was a long lost dream of the 36-year-old, and he took the responsibility on his shoulders, with Karim Benzema there to share the burden.

Unlike many, who are not able to match the expectations the captain’s armband brings, Luka Modric has done a great job and has won his first Real Madrid trophy as a captain.

So far this season, Modric has scored 2 goals and assisted 5 goals for Real Madrid. One of his two goals was a spot-kick in the game against Elche, while the other was a spectacular finish in the Supercopa de Espana final against Athletic Bilbao to open the scoring.

Modric has some amazing statistics. Defensively, Real Madrid’s maestro averages 0.95 interceptions and is dribbled past only 0.75 times a game. He is excellent with the ball, and completes an average of 1.5 dribbles per game and finishes with a 90.4% pass completion rate. Averaging 1.6 key passes and 3.6 long balls, Modric is a magician in disguise.

We all know that the Ballon d’Or is one of the most respected awards and the fact that Luka Modric won the Ballon D’or (2018) at a time when Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi conquered that world of football tells us that he deserves all the respect in the world and that he deserves to be ranked at the top as one of the greatest, along with the likes of Zinedine Zidane, Xavi, and Andres Iniesta.