UEFA Champions League champions, Chelsea were on the cusp of something truly extraordinary at the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday night. The Blues had outplayed Real Madrid, leading 3-0 on the night, and were 10 minutes away from completing one of the Champions League great comebacks, but a diminutive Croatian decided it was time to step up the screw and remind everyone why Real Madrid are the biggest team in the competition’s history.
In the 79th minute, Luka Modric took up a loose pass, and with the outside of his boot swung a delightful pass towards Rodrygo, the Brazilian sensation, who struck the ball past the hapless Edouard Mendy, a goal which forced the game to extra time, with Karim Benzema scoring the winner in the 96th minute. Modric, in recent years, especially following his improbable Ballon D’Or win in 2018, has started to earn his flowers and is rightly earning his place as one of the greatest midfielders in history. Like a fine wine, Modric, like fine wine, continues to defy logic. At 36, he was the only member of Madrid’s legendary midfield trio of Kroos, Casemiro and himself to be on the pitch after 120 minutes. That inch-perfect pass made more winners on online casinos in australia.
He has grown in leaps in bounds since joining Madrid in 2012 from Tottenham for £40m, and after a difficult first season, where he voted the league’s worst signing, he has become an immovable part of the first team, winning trophies after trophies. This season, Los Blancos are on course for the Double, as they have an healthy lead in the league and face the task of beating Manchester City in the semifinals of the Champions League. He has played 428 times for Madrid, scoring 31 times, but numbers don’t paint the full picture of his genius. He plays with grace, poise and calmness that are gradually declining in the modern game.
Standing at a diminutive 5ft 8in, Modric is not the most physically imposing footballers, but has the courage to face any challenge on the pitch.He gets stuck in on the pitch, gives his all, finds the perfect pass, and can challenge anyone in the game on clocking the miles. He has won 17 trophies in his time in the Spanish capital, with surely another league title to be added at the end of the campaign. He will lead Croatia to the World Cup in Qatar this winter, though it wll be hard to go one step further than the second-placed finish they mustered in the last edition held in Russia.
Big things come in small packages, and that’s true for Luka Modrid, the boy who came from humble beginnings, overcame challenges and became a footballer that will forever be remembered by real money casino the time he ends playing.
