For a long time, Luka Modric has been a player in the background, the one that rarely gets the big individual awards or grabs the newspaper headlines. At Real Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo has been the star of the show for so long and Gareth Bale was the Champions League hero back in May. However, for Croatia Modric has played the central role – the heartbeat of the team that went so close to winning the World Cup, against the odds.
Croatia made it to World Cup final against the odds
Croatia have stunned the world with their top-class performances and getting to the final is their biggest achievement ever in football. Each and every player goes home as a hero but Modric in particular has had a stand-out tournament and he rightly picked up the Golden Ball Award – the greatest award you can win at the
World Cup as it recognises the best player overall.
Modric tore Argentina apart
Modric played out of his skin against Argentina in the group stages to ensure his team went through to the next stages but he did not stop there. He turned in a top quality performance in every single game and he was the danger man that France were most scared of going into the final.
Could the Ballon d’Or be next for Modric?
Now that Ronaldo has left Real Madrid, Modric could become the main star, although it is likely that they will bring in a new Galactico as a replacement. With this Golden Ball trophy to show for his amazing World Cup run to add to his Champions League winner’s medal, Modric could be pushing Messi and Ronaldo for another big individual award – the Ballon d’Or. For the past ten years, the pair have won the award five times each with nobody else getting a look in.
Mohamed Salah had a fantastic year until his injury forced him off in the first half of the Champions League final. This also prevented him from playing at full fitness during the World Cup. Unless he has a sensational next few months, it may be safe to expect he will have to wait. This year looks like it could be the year for Modric to come out of the shadows and take centre stage.
