The season for Luka Modric has not been easy so far. The Croatian midfielder has been injured most of the time and he has lost his position in the midfield, with Fede Valverde overtaking him with his strength and his pace. Modric shows his quality every time he has the chance, but the physical condition is preventing him to give the best. Now he has declined to play with Croatia a friendly game to focus in the next important weeks for Real Madrid.
Luka Modric helped Croatia to qualify to the next Euro after beating at home Slovakia. His national team will play this week a friendly game against Georgia, but Modric asked his Federation to skip the game and he’s back to Madrid, ready to prepare the next two key games at Santiago Bernabéu against Real Sociedad and PSG.
Modric has not missed a game with Croatia and played all 8 qualifying matches with his national team. However, this effort was paid with two injuries in the last two international breaks, preventing him to play with Real Madrid. As a consequence, he has lost his spot in the starting eleven, with Casemiro, Valverde and Kroos forming a strong midfield, with pace and good physical conditions.
Modric is already 34 years old and his best days seemed past. Last season, he paid the effort of leading his national team to the World Cup Final and was able to win the Golden Ball. However, with Real Madrid his performances have been quite poor. When he steps in the pitch, he shines thanks to his quality, but his physical condition is not as his best, as the numbers show.
Modric has only played 364 minutes in La Liga, starting only 3 games and scoring one goal. Last season he was in the starting eleven 31 games, so he was involved in most of the games, but his level was very poor, same as the other colleagues. Real Madrid need the best Luka Modric, especially because there aren’t enough players in the midfield to replace him. Hopefully he can recover himself from all the effort and be ready to play against Real Sociedad.
