[ad_1]
Luka Modric blows out his cheeks. “It would be a huge loss,” he says. “Like when Cristiano left. But you can’t think about the past. It’s football and that’s it.” Modric has confronted Lionel Messi 21 instances and is the one participant since 2008 aside from Cristiano Ronaldo to beat him to the Ballon d’Or. He is aware of what it might imply if he leaves. “If it happens it will be a huge loss for the prestige of the league,” he tells AFP. “But we need to go forward. Other players will become stars. “When Ronaldo left, the identical factor occurred, the lifetime of Real Madrid went on with out him and it will likely be the identical for Barcelona and La Liga with out Messi.”
After Ronaldo, Real Madrid wanted two sacked coaches and the return of the previous one to get again on their toes, a restoration nonetheless not full as proven by a second consecutive exit within the Champions League final 16.
Messi’s departure, even his unhappiness, would give Madrid a gap, not solely to win La Liga once more however to determine their very own interval of supremacy in Spain.
The first step is defending the title they received in July.
“We don’t have a young team but we have an experienced team,” says Modric. “We have young players, who will get better. I don’t know if we will buy players but even if it stays like this, we have enough quality.
“We confirmed it in La Liga and we all know we are able to do it once more. After the suspension, we got here again so motivated. We missed soccer, we missed profitable video games.
“We had worked so hard, I think physically we were the best team in the league and that’s why we won it. It was my second La Liga title and I want to win more.”
Dressing room chief
Modric was arguably Real Madrid’s greatest participant throughout the 11-game run-in, maybe benefitting greater than anybody from the three-month pause, after a interval when he discovered himself rotated.
“I had two injuries that set me back and then other players took their opportunity,” Modric says. “It wasn’t easy for me, but maybe now Zizou sees it differently because I never gave up and in the end I was playing again. I feel well now, I feel fit, I feel motivated.”
He turns 35 subsequent week however Modric nonetheless feels instrumental to this Real Madrid, his calm masking an inner-steel that’s well-suited to Zinedine Zidane and maybe symbolic of the group as a complete.
In his autobiography, ‘My Game’, launched final month, Modric mentioned Zidane urged him to be extra of a frontrunner and he has been supporting Eden Hazard throughout the Belgian’s injury-ravaged opening yr.
“Eden is a great guy and a special player,” says Modric. “But he was playing with pain and when you’re on the pitch, people always expect the best. They don’t care if you have little problems.
“I spoke to him and mentioned, ‘Eden possibly you needn’t to play now and get well as a result of subsequent season we want you at your greatest. This is a season the place you are attending to know all the things however subsequent season you must be 100 per cent as a result of if not, it’ll be tough’.
“Hopefully he comes back without any problems and then I’m sure he’ll show his potential and why the club bought him because we will need him a lot.”
Zidane ‘probably the greatest’
Hazard retains the arrogance of Zidane however the identical can’t be mentioned for Gareth Bale, whose prospects look bleaker than ever if he stays.
Modric has spent 12 years enjoying with Bale, 4 at Tottenham and eight with Madrid, and he’s a kind of closest to the Welshman within the dressing room.
“Gareth is a great, great player,” Modric says. “But his situation is not easy. He always has my support but he needs to decide what is best for him and what he wants to do now with his career.
“It was not a straightforward season for him however it’s what it’s. Maybe now he must get again to his greatest. Maybe to combat or… We’ll see what occurs with him.”
Unlike Bale, Modric trusts Zidane absolutely, dismissing those who claim he is a motivator graced with good luck.
“He simply completely understands gamers,” Modric says. “He is likely one of the greatest coaches, undoubtedly.
“What we have achieved is unimaginable and still people say it’s because of luck or this or that, and they don’t give him the recognition he deserves — but he doesn’t need it. His results speak for themselves.”
Modric remembers one in all his first conferences with Zidane in 2016, which he cites as a turning level in his profession.
“I remember it word for word,” says Modric. “He said, ‘I see you as a player who can one day win the Ballon d’Or’. I’d never even thought about the Ballon d’Or before but when someone like Zizou tells you that, you feel so much confidence.
Promoted
“It’s why we have at all times had such an amazing relationship and I hope he stays at Madrid for a protracted, very long time.”
Luka Modric’s autobiography, ‘My Game’, was launched on August 20 within the UK, France and Spain.
Topics talked about on this article
[ad_2]
Source hyperlink