The captain of Croatia, voted best player of the World Cup, delivered a tournament of very high level despite the defeat in Sunday's final against the Blues (4-2).
The World
|
|
By Anthony Hernandez (Special Envoy to Moscow)
The face marked by disappointment and eyes in the air, Luka Modric looks almost embarrassed with his trophy in his hands . Elected best World Cup player, in front of Belgian Eden Hazard and Frenchman Antoine Griezmann, the Croatian captain certainly thinks of another cup, the one that rewards the winner of the World Cup, that is to say the team of France who just beat Croatia in the final (4-2). " I am proud of it, but the incredible support of the Croatian public makes me even happier. You know you did something great in spite of the defeat, but it's hard to have come so close and not to have won. " he assaulted.
For a player also turned towards the collective, one can easily imagine that an individual distinction, as prestigious as it is, does not manage to erase the cruel defeat, like the Argentine Lionel Messi, elected there has four years in Brazil despite the defeat in the final against Germany. Especially as his team from Croatia was deserving Sunday in Moscow. As she was throughout during her Russian epic.
Glittering against Argentina in the first round, decisive in the knockout games, marked by three extra-time and two penalty shoot-outs, Modric lit up the World Cup by his class, his technical quality above average and his intelligence of play. "We are very happy for him that he won this trophy, he deserves it. He played amazingly in this tournament and it shows the quality of the team that has in his ranks. He took a lot of work in our game and deserves this trophy even if we did not win " congratulated his coach Zlatko Dalic.
Before the match, Didier Deschamps did not hide his fear: "He is very mobile, not especially axial, but he obviously has a technical basis that has more or less his equivalent on the other side with Rakitic, and a very great intelligence of play." The former Croatian footballers had declared their fame to their successor, who raised Croatia in the final of a World Cup for the first time, twenty years after the elimination in the semifinal against the Blues of Lilian Thuram. "I'm in love with it. He plays with fantastic simplicity, he is a fabulous player, the best Croatian player of all time " had delivered with emphasis former striker Alen Boksic.
A chance for the Golden Ball [19659011] Faced with the Blues determined to win and carried by the talent of Antoine Griezmann, Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbappé, the number 10 Croatian has been too isolated. He will not have weighed as much as he hoped for the outcome of this final. Tired by a tough World Cup, which saw his team play a game more than the French in ten days, Modric could only witness helplessly to the shots of the spell that have tipped the meeting: the goal against his side of Mario Mandzukic and the very severe penalty shot after a hand of Ivan Perisic – granted by the VAR (for video assistant referee refereeing video) – while Croatia had just equalized a superb half
In a press conference, coach Dalic mentioned the decision of the Argentine referee, Nestor Pitana, without making tons. "Normally, I do not comment, all I can say is that in a World Cup final, we do not give this kind of penalty, but it does not minimize the victory of France he stressed before relativising, Do not think that I said something negative about the referee, I simply gave my own thought. I have a lot of respect for the referee, he made his decision based on what he saw and my intention was not to be negative.
Luka Modric, true sportsman of the Croatian team, was discreet on the subject: " Unfortunately, some goals have turned things in their favor. The French will be celebrated, but we can keep our heads high. Criticized sometimes in his country for his links with the highly controversial Croatian football man Zdravko Mamic – he was charged with perjury before the start of the World Cup – the captain managed to weather the storm. After the semi-final won against England, he showed his character: "We proved the opposite of what people said. Especially English journalists, experts on television. They underestimated Croatia tonight and it was a big mistake. "
The Vatrenis midfielder (the flamboyant) and Real Madrid have not gone far from a fantastic double-league champions-World Cup, which would have surely propelled him to the Golden Ball. A cheering glow in the weary and ruthless domination of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi since 2008. We can always hope that he still manages to break this hegemony. Or while a champion of the French world replenishes it. Why not his Madrid team-mate, a certain Raphaël Varane.
