The basic facts are that he was on the ball 102 times — far more than anyone else on the pitch, even those who completed the full 94 minutes. Indeed only two players, Barcelona‘s Frenkie de Jong and Modric’s teammate, Toni Kroos, have been on the ball more times in a single match all season.
More than that, Modric orchestrated Madrid’s brilliance with 94 passes, more than any of Los Blancos‘ players has attempted in any match this season. He departed with the match long since tucked away, the result filed under “terrific win and performance,” to a thunderous standing ovation, about which Ancelotti said: “That was the usual Modric, quality, commitment and he deserved the fans acclaim when he left the pitch.”
The Italian went further, at least indirectly, by stating that the key to Madrid playing with such confident, aggressive fluidity was going 1-0 up so early in what promised to be a tough test. (Los Blancos have gone 1-0 down in five of their 11 matches so far.) No coincidence that it was Modric whose superb pass into the penalty area found Dani Carvajal‘s feet so that the full-back could set up Bellingham to fire home and, according to Ancelotti, put Madrid in top gear.
Back to the point I made at the top of this column.
Modric has had two principal reasons to exhibit his vinegar nature. First, he thought that when he agreed his contract extension things would be identical to last season — only they haven’t been. He’s not, and has never been, a guy to believe or even wish that the training ground environment is a hierarchy instead of a meritocracy. “Nobody’s ever gifted me anything” is one of his favourite phrases; Modric knows that irrespective of past glories, you earn your status every single damn day.
He’s been miffed because he felt that the tone of his agreement with Ancelotti was that he’d be starting most games even if the intense competition — Eduardo Camavinga, Aurélien Tchouaméni, Kroos, Fede Valverde, Dani Ceballos and now Jude Bellingham — might mean he completed 90 minutes less regularly. Instead he’s having to fight and scrap to get into the starting XI, and so far it’s been a losing battle.
The other point is that all true “greats” earn their success because they have a potent mix of talent, ego and street-fighting toughness. Modric is brimming with all these so, to be blunt, his dignity has been ruffled. If he wasn’t outright ticked off at his situation, he wouldn’t be the Luka Modric who started his Madrid career being ridiculed by the Spanish media (literally … Marca ran a poll in which he was voted the worst signing of the season) yet has become, by far, one of their best, most influential and admirable players of the past 30 years.
But here’s the point. Did you catch that stat earlier? Modric is 45 matches away from 1,000 senior games in his career — a vast and tiring number. At 38, the stats show, with clarity, that he’s towards the bottom of the Madrid charts for most sprints, most sprints with intensity and for average number of kilometres covered in a match.
Since June 2022, Modric has played 75 times for club and country, and he’s still not retired from the international level — he’s still his nation’s captain — with crucial matches to come, including at home to Euro 2024 qualifying Group D co-leaders Turkey on Thursday and away to Wales next week. All of which is to make clear why this warrior-wizard might need to start thinking about which gifts he should present to his coach by the end of a long, grueling season.
