Two Real Madrid players were involved in the opening match of the World Cup last night as Brazil overcame Croatia 3-1 – Marcelo and Luka Modric.
And for the Los Blancos left back, the evening could not have started any worse, as he put through his own goal in front of an expectant home crowd in Sao Paulo.
With Barcelona full-back Dani Alves wondering further up the field, Ivan Olic had all the time in the world to canter down the left side of midfield and towards the Brazil area. His low teasing cross found Nicola Jelavic who got the slightest of touches, enough to put Marcelo off balance. He could only watch aimlessly as the ball bounced off his ankle and beyond Julio Cesar in goal.
Brazil got themselves level before half time through Neymar, and they went on to win 3-1 in a controversial second half. Neymar scored the second with 20 minutes to go via a penalty. Replays showed though that Dejan Lovren made very little contact, if any, on Fred. Chelsea midfielder Oscar secured the points in the 91st minute.
Although at the end of the wrong result, Modric stood out in midfield, his intricate passing a joy to watch, and they will be hopeful of progressing having got their hardest match out of the way.
Speaking after the game, Marcelo thanked his teammates for digging him out of a hole.
He said: “The first thing I thought was just to stay calm and not make it worse for the team. If I’d let my head drop, I might have ended up making life even more difficult for us. The fans were right behind me after I scored the own-goal and they were chanting my name. My team-mates also came up to me and that helped me clear my head straightaway. I got back into the game immediately.”
