Modric from different planet – Rakitic
Listening to the way Ivan Rakitic talks about Croatia midfield partner Luka Modric, it quickly becomes clear how lucky he feels to be even sharing the same pitch as him at the World Cup.
He calls Modric the best Croatian footballer of all time — a big leap, considering Rakitic grew up idolising the great Robert Prosinecki — and feels Modric is so good he has arrived from a different planet.
“You try to enjoy it as much as you can, to learn,” Rakitic said yesterday. “It’s the best thing that can happen to any player.”
Rakitic and Modric, who play for Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid, respectively, form Croatia’s all-star central-midfield pairing that has been a key factor behind the team topping its group at the World Cup, setting up a last-16 match against Denmark.
They are often mentioned in the same breath, but Rakitic clearly sees himself as the junior member of the duo. He speaks in almost reverential tones about Modric, his “big brother,” and likens his qualities to Andres Iniesta, whom he has spent four years alongside at Barcelona.
“It seems like both of them are from a different planet and they came to play football with us mortals here,” Rakitic said at Croatia’s training base, just north of St Petersburg. “Both of them are among the best players ever in their positions.
“If I created a football team, I would have both of them in my team. I can thank God to have the opportunity to play with both of them.”
With Modric – a four-time Champions League winner – its leader and inspiration, Croatia is a genuine contender to win what has become a wide open World Cup in Russia. Or at least emulate the 1998 team which reached the semi-finals in France, featuring Prosinecki, Zvonimir Boban and Davor Suker.
The technically gifted Prosinecki has long been seen as Croatia’s all-time best player, but even he has recently said Modric surpasses him.
“If Robert Prosinecki said that, it has to be true because nobody knows about football more than Prosinecki. And I would agree with him completely,” Rakitic said. “Not only that Luka is the best player ever, but he is a great person, a leader and we are following him.”