Alli aims to outwit Luka again
DELE ALLI is on a mission to make a mug of Luka Modric again – and this time ruin his rival’s World Cup dream.
Alli and Modric will clash in tomorrow’s semi-final in Moscow when England take on Croatia.
It will feel like a world away from the first time Tottenham midfielder Alli faced Real Madrid ace Modric in the Audi Cup in Munich’s Allianz Arena in 2015.
Not that Modric will forget the pre-season friendly. Back then Alli was an unknown teenage upstart, but it didn’t stop him from nutmegging one of the world’s greatest midfielders.
Modric was less than impressed and labelled Alli “a little bugger” for embarrassing him.
Alli has since developed into one of the finest talents on the planet himself.
Matured
Last season Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino labelled him the “best young player in the world” and Sir Alex Ferguson tagged him the next Paul Gascoigne.
And despite having matured as a player, he hasn’t lost that devilment in him that could spell danger for Modric once more. Alli, 22, said: “He said something. I remember it. I always enjoy a good nutmeg. I didn’t shout ‘Megs’ though! “Some people when they nutmeg, they call it, but it’s never been something I’ve done, even in training. “I don’t know him personally. But all the guys who played with him at Tottenham said that he was an unbelievable person and everyone can see how good he is as a player. “Would I nutmeg him again? Hopefully. I’m not going to focus on that. But it would be nice.”
Alli’s rise has taken him from being knocked back by Danny Welbeck when he asked for his shirt following MK Dons’ shock 4-0 League Cup win over Manchester United to the brink of history and legendary status. Alli, though, doesn’t trace his success with England back to the humble beginnings of the lower leagues – but the crushing defeat to Iceland at Euro 2016.
That fateful night left Alli wanting to hide away from the world in embarrassment.
Two years on he is facing the world again on the biggest stage of all and admits the meltdown to Iceland made him and the Three Lions stronger.
He said: “Straight after that game you want the floor to eat you up. You want to hide and not come out of your room. You want to forget about it and lock yourself away.
“Then, as players, you want to go back out and play but when you haven’t got an international game for a while that is difficult.
“When Gareth Southgate came in it was the first time we relived it.
“You don’t want to watch it back, but we know how important it was, going into the World Cup, that we had to go back through it to come out stronger.”
Tomorrow’s showdown could define his life, but Alli insists he won’t get nervous and will stick to the rituals before kick-off that have taken him this far.
He added: “I have a lot of superstitions. There are so many. I do all my right leg first, then all my left leg. I have an eightminute ice-bath the night before.
“I don’t know why, it’s just a superstition. I always say a prayer, the same prayer, before.
“You might have noticed there’s tape on my knee. That’s a superstition as well. I don’t like taking it off.
“I took it off for the first game – this is a bit of a silly superstition – but the first game here was the first game in ages I haven’t had it on, and I got injured, so I’m going to be keeping it on again.
“It’s a bit crazy.”
You could say that, but it’s all in keeping with the last few weeks.