An extraordinary fate for a kid who, during the Croatian War of Independence, had to flee the family home of Modrici, a village located on the slopes of the Velebit massif, which overlooks the Adriatic, where his grandfather lived , another Luka Modric, killed by the Serbian forces in the first months of the conflict (1991-1995) which will cause some 20,000 deaths.
Then six years old, Luka Modric fled with his family 40 kilometers away, in the beautiful coastal city of Zadar, on the Adriatic. It is there, in the din of the bombs falling on the small port, that one of the best footballers of his generation will hatch, the only one to have disturbed the hegemony that Messi et Ronaldo exercise between 2008 and 2021 on the Ballon d’Orwhich rewards the best player in the world.
In 2018, it is the consecration. Modric is named Ballon d’Or following a year in which he reached the World Cup final (lost to France 4-2) and won the Champions League with Real Madrid.
“I’m sad he didn’t get to see even a little of what I accomplished“, recently declared Modric, evoking the memory of his grandfather, with the television channel of Fifa.
From his debut in Zadar, his talent attracted attention. “I had heard of a hyperactive little boy who, in a hotel hallway, kept kicking a ball and sleeping with it.“, remembered before the Mondial-2018 Josip Bajlothen coach of NK Zadar.
The talent of the boy seems obvious: “He was an idol for those of his generation, a leader, a darling. The children already saw in him what we see today“, continued the trainer.
The phenomenon hatches in a terrifying atmosphere: “It’s happened a million times that the bombs start falling as we go to training, forcing us to run for the dugouts“, remember Marijan Buljata comrade of Luka Modric, also trained at NK Zadar.
