Modric shines for Real
Galacticos just about all gone
Luka Modric returns on Tuesday to Moscow’s the Luzhniki Stadium – scene of Croatia's World Cup final defeat to France – not only as Fifa’s best men’s player but also as Real Madrid star.
For the first time in his six seasons at Madrid, Modric will line up for a Champions League tie without Cristiano Ronaldo, who was sold, or Gareth Bale, who is injured.
There will be no Kaka, Angel di Maria or James Rodriguez either, all of whom Modric has rubbed shoulders with. At 33, he has outlasted them all.
Together, that quintet cost Madrid almost ß400m (R6.57bn) and each considerably more than Modric, whose fee of about £30m (R555m) in 2012 would not even have got Richarlison out of Watford last summer.
But in this current squad, Modric stands out.
In part, because of his brilliance, which has never been in doubt, but also because of Real Madrid too. The Galacticos are, just about, all gone.
Bale is the last, and he would have been playing against CSKA Moscow had it not been for a thigh injury picked up on Saturday.
After him, Madrid’s most expensive starters are likely to be Karim Benzema and Toni Kroos – both, like Modric, signed for about ß30m (R492m).
Meanwhile, elsewhere in Europe, Barcelona will be fielding Philippe Coutinho and Ousmane Dembele against Tottenham. Manchester United will have Paul Pogba, and Paris Saint-Germain Neymar and Kylian Mbappe.
All of them surpassed the ß100m (R1.6bn) mark.
Since being wooed by James’s sumptuous volley at the Maracana in the 2014 World Cup, Madrid have changed their approach.
As the remnants of the old mode depart – Ronaldo is gone, James unlikely to return – the new, younger, and cheaper, batch have risen to the surface.
“Madrid is strengthening its search for young players who will become the next great players of the sport,” president Florentino Perez said in July.
Alvaro Odriozola, the 22year-old right back, could make his Champions League debut on Tuesday in the absence of Marcelo and Sergio Ramos.
He was signed from Real Sociedad for ß35m (R575m) in the summer.
Dani Ceballos, bought as a 20-year-old for ß17m (R279m) from Real Betis, came on for Bale against Atletico Madrid last weekend.
And Marco Asensio, perhaps the policy’s poster boy, was brought in for just under ß4m (R65.6m) as an 18-yearold from Real Mallorca.
All three of them Spanish, signed for the future. The list of those nurtured in the Real Madrid youth teams is longer.
Madrid have become synonymous with star names and the shift has been deliberate.
The swelling market has played a part, with the club no longer the dominant powerplayer among Europe’s elite, as have plans to upgrade the Santiago Bernabeu. “The only way to remain independent is to be financially healthy,” Perez said at the club’s annual general meeting earlier this month.
“That is the base of our sporting success.”