Modric promises to give Ronaldo competition
The midfielder gave Croatia the win with a great free-kick goal, a day before celebrating his 39th birthday and was once again praised by the coach
After the 1-2 defeat to Portugal at the Estádio da Luz, Luka Modric was once again a starter in the second round of the Nations League and this time he was decisive, scoring a great goal from a free kick, enough to secure the three points for Croatia , in the home match against Poland (1-0).
The Real Madrid midfielder reached 180 international appearances in this match, now only behind Cristiano Ronaldo as the European with the most appearances for his country and promises to continue… for now: «I am proud and happy to have reached this number. I could never have dreamed that I would play for so long. The first game was a dream and now this… I am happy to still be here to help the team and achieve victories», he said, in a quick interview, after the final whistle, before being asked about international retirement and football in general.
“With me you never know (laughs). We have to take it game by game. I can’t think about the future. When I no longer feel the fire in me, I’ll retire. Only I can feel that fire and make that decision,” he explained, then talking about his goal.
“I’m happy that, after a long time, I scored from a free kick. It also happened against Slovakia , but that was a lot of luck. Of course I’m happy for the goal, but more for the victory,” he concluded.
Croatian coach Dalic was also very pleased with his captain’s performance and was full of praise: “The way Luka played today… he won the ball back, he fought, he ran… this performance reminds you of a 25-year-old. He dazzled the crowd again, a fantastic game. He plays like he’s at his best, if he keeps it up… he’ll be with us for a long time. I told the boys that the future is ahead of them, but not Modric’s (laughs).”
“We won the game, Luka’s birthday is tomorrow so we celebrated early. We have a great atmosphere, Luka gave himself a nice present, this victory means a lot for us to continue and it will be a great motivation and give us confidence,” he assured.
