Modric has no end

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Luka Modric celebrates his goal in the final of the Spanish Super Cup against Athletic.AHMED YOSRI (REUTERS)

During the 2020 confinement, a couple of episodes of the Modric family's home isolation gave rise to jokes from their dressing roommates, who killed time with live broadcasts on social networks.

Sergio Ramos teased him when the Croatian told him that he was helping his wife in the kitchen and that he had prepared some nocilla crepes – “you're lazy there, brother”, the former captain replied-;

while Marcelo and Vinicius commented with a loud laugh how the police had threatened him with a fine for catching one of his children in the street looking for a ball that had jumped the wall of the house.

ATHAthletic

0

Unai Simón, De Marcos, Íñigo Martínez, Yeray, Balenziaga (Yuri, min. 57), Dani García, Berenguer (Nico Williams, min. 45), Muniain (Nico Serrano, min. 80), Oier Zarraga (Vesga, min. 57), O. Sancet (Raúl García, min. 57) and Williams

RMA Real Madrid

two

Courtois, Alaba, Eder Militao, Ferland Mendy, Lucas Vázquez (Nacho, min. 90), Modric, Casemiro, Kroos, Benzema, Vinicius Junior (Marcelo, min. 85) and Rodrygo (Federico Valverde, min. 63)

Goals

0-1 min.

37: Modric.

0-2 min.

51: Benzema.

Referee

César Soto Grado

Yellow cards Dani García (min. 76) and Yeray (min. 89)

Red cards Eder Militao (min. 86)

When the seclusion ended and everyone returned to Valdebebas to complete the season, Luka Modric, then 34 years old, unfolded with an energy that attracted attention. "During confinement I worked hard, two months without stopping," said the midfielder, who started in eight of the ten games that took Madrid to the 2019/20 title (he was not on cards in another).

That refueling at a time of great general confusion then served to explain the good form of the Balkan in that immediate return and in the following months, but a year and a half has passed since then, he turned 36 in September, and his activity has not down even a bit. The dependence of his football on the white team is still very high and Modric continues to be able to repeat efforts every three days with the enthusiasm of a youngster, practically always from the starting eleven, and without an apparently impressive body. He showed it again in the Spanish Super Cup, where he opened the scoring in the final and was chosen as the best player in the tournament. "It's very simple: it's the last one to leave Valdebebas," point out club sources with access to the booth.

For a few seasons the entity has been preparing the end of its cycle, however, the renewals end up happening. At the beginning of last season, the extension of the contract (it ended in June 2021) was not at all clear, but his performance did not take long to convince the leadership to sign another course. And now there is talk of the next deal. It will not be for him, he warned this Sunday in Riyadh. “I enjoy like never before. I've always done it, but now more because you don't know how long you're going to last at this level. I do everything to continue like this for a few more years, "he said. He spoke of years, in the plural, beyond the near horizon of the World Cup in ten months.

Since football returned in the summer of 2020 after confinement until today, there has only been one outfield player in the five major European leagues older and with more minutes on the pitch than him: Cristiano Ronaldo.

Three weeks after turning 37, the Portuguese has accumulated 8,329 minutes in his clubs (6,664 in Juventus and United) and his country (1,665) in this period.

For his part, Modric has added 7,590 between Madrid (6,178) and the national team (1,412).

A seemingly lightweight physique second only to the most famous gym armor in world football.

First goal of the season

And among all the first-team players who have passed through Valdebebas in the last two courses, the only ones who have been dressed in shorts the longest, except for goalkeeper Courtois, have been David Alaba (29 years, 8,554 minutes), Casemiro ( 29, 8,367) and Benzema (34, 8,159). Last season, the Croatian barely missed two games due to minor physical problems and this season, six (two due to covid). For a time it was thought that he had to be dosed to stretch his career, a theory that he never shared. He assured that he needed to play with continuity and not rotate to get in shape, and asked that they not attend to the age that marks the DNI. He still continues to do the latter, but no one takes him out of the eleven anymore without an apparent physical reason or without a comprehensive rotation plan,as in the first round of the Cup and who knows if also this Thursday in Elche in the round of 16 after the hustle and bustle of the Super Cup.

If in October it was Kroos who ended up squaring Madrid, after the Christmas holidays it was Modric who was the most active in midfield. The only one who looked like himself in the general failure of Getafe, where he stamped a ball on the crossbar, just like against Valencia. In Arabia, with less force and more placement, he was able to score his first goal of the course.

Six years later, Carlo Ancelotti returned to the Bernabéu and Modric's importance remained intact.

Or even increased before the inevitable nearness of his end and the abyss of an uncertain future without him.

The Italian blamed his injuries for the crisis that led Madrid to end the 2014/15 season without major titles and his subsequent dismissal in his first spell in Spain (he missed 30 games, including the entire outcome).

In 2022, the football

of

is still hooked in an important part to the boots of this Croatian who, for the moment, has no end.

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