Real Madrid is nothing without Luka Modrić. Modrić started Real’s match against Borussia Monchengladbach on the bench. Real Madrid went down 2-0 to the German club in the 58th minute. With a second straight CL loss, Real’s knockout round hopes would be in serious danger. Luka comes on in the 71st minute and Real Madrid score twice to force a 2-2 draw and save face. Modrić deserves a hockey assist on Casemiro’s equalizer one minute from the final whistle.
Coincidence that Madrid started playing better once Modrić was inserted? I don’t think so.
Modrić gets the hockey assist at the death
It’s going to be a quick turn around for all teams currently playing in European competition as the condensed COVID schedule to pack the end of 2020 with matches is completely obliterating players, managers, and starting XI’s.
Usually there are 2-3 weeks in between Champions League matches. But with all domestic seasons starting in September, the players are going to have to take the brunt of it and play three important games in a 7-day span on more than one occasion.
Last week, Real Madrid were “Shak-ed” by Donetsk in a 3-2 loss in Madrid. Luka Modrić scored the ‘Goal of the Round’ with a missile from outside the box. Los Blancos will certainly need do better against Borussia Monchengladbach Tuesday night in Germany, especially after gaining some confidence by beating Barcelona in La Liga play over the weekend.
Ivan Perišić and Marcelo Brozović travel to Ukraine as Inter Milan take on Shakhtar Donetsk. Inter drew Borussia Monchengladbach last week with an injury time equalizer from Romelu Lukaku to chop the points. Inter need a result here if they want to fight for a Round of 16 berth.
Mario Pašalić and Atalanta host Ajax while Duje Ćaleta-Car and Marseille will have their hands full with Manchester City.
@ KRKIC
HNK Rijeka – goalkeeper FACTORY 😉
Dont Forget Ivan Nevistic and Ivor Pandur
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVdEDcUk9BM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSTN_xKSUbw&vl=en
Our defence in midfield and back line is falling apart.
https://youtu.be/sWTqi0LQ6pI
Maybe the water polo team can lend us one.
@ARMADA
Actually, I think you described our DEFENDERS with your statement re: punching above their weight, despite never being world class there.
Our team’s defense has been very good, and we rarely concede goals throughout our history…but we’ve never really had any World Class defenders.
Our best CBs have probably been some combination of Robert Kovac, Vedran Corluka, Igor Stimac, Slaven Bilic and Kiks Tudor.
Kiks Simunovic and Kiks Lovren are incredibly mistake-prone, and we had a bunch of random guys like Schifo, Zivkovic, Krizanac play decent but were obvious stop gap players.
I think our keepers have been wildly inconsistent and have cost us more games than our defenders.
– Ladic was good at ’96 and ’98 but overall he was just okay because he had a lot of costly blunders in qualifiers (i.e. Yugo).
– Plete was bad at WC2002
– Butina was bad at Euro2004
– Plete mediocre at WC2006 (can’t remember how good he was at Euro2008)
– Runje was bad in WC2010 qualifiers
– Plete was actually good at Euro2012
– Plete was awful at WC2014
– Subasic was solid at Euro2016
– Subasic was bad (in game) and good (penalty) at WC2018
More often than not, our keepers have been very shaky in tournaments.
Even our coaches were kinda lazy when it came to scouting and picking our keepers.
It seemed like they would just grab one from Dinamo and one from Hajduk and just flip a coin to see which one would be #1.
It’s surprising, considering how we seem to be well built for goalkeeping, but I guess it’s just the ‘Croatian Culture’ of throwing the worst player in net (LOL).
I am hopeful though, largely because over these past 15 years, we’ve really been developing a LOT of talent and have become so much deeper at every position.
Our high end talent is the same…but we just seem to have some many random players all over Europe now (keepers included).
Livakovic, Grbic, Semper, Sluga, Ziger, Kotarski, Letica, Horkas…
Not a world-beater list, but each of these young keepers have achieved something decent so far in their young careers and you only need one to pan out.
We can finally move away from our previous strategy of simply grabbing the two keepers from Hajduk and Dinamo and flipping a coin to see which one starts for the next tournament.
@ Maminjo
True. But we have a surplus of talent there now. Even if Livakovic doesn’t pan out, there is still Grbic and Sluga is a nice #2. Then you have others through the youth ranks.
Historically, we’ve been relatively ok at GK. Obviously we had Ladic for a while, then Plete for a longgg time, then Subasic – obviously with others have brief tenures. But as a whole, GK has never been a ‘weak’ point for us. We’ve never had a world class keeper like a Oblak now for Slovenia, but our keepers have always punched above their weight.
Guys, our prayers have been answered.
Alen Halilovic is in talks to join Hajduk. If there is anyone on this earth to bring Hajduk back to glory, it’s Halilovic.
If Alen joins Hajduk, you heard it hear first, Hajduk is finishing first in the Prva HNL. Mark it in your books!
@ARMADA87
It’s still historically our worst position by far.
We always seem to have some youngster doing really well (like Semper at the U17 World Cup, or Posavec starting in Serie A at age 19)…then we never really hear from them again.
We are generally a very tall and athletic group of people, so it’s weird that our first choice keepers are always average height (Ladic, Livakovic, Runje) or unathletic (Plete, Subasic).
You’d figure that one day we’d get some sort of phenom 6’6″ keeper who could fly all over the place like a basketball player, lol.
Lovre Kalinic looked like that in his peak, but he just fell apart mentally after that transfer to Villa.
Antonio Marin is a wildcard for me.
I don’t understand a lot of what’s going on there.
The guy did really well the past couple of years in the Druga HNL where he scored like 8 goals in 9 games for Dinamo’s second team (in the Druga HNL) as a 17/18 year old.
He also played in the UEFA Youth League and did very well there, where Dinamo lost in the quarterfinals to the eventual finalist (Benfica).
He was promoted to Dinamo’s first team, and he plays sparingly off the bench here and there.
Now they suddenly decide to send him off to Monza (on loan) with a pretty cheap option to buy at 6 million Euro.
Not sure what happened from March to now, but not sure why his value would suddenly drop so much in the eyes of Dinamo.
Maybe he did very poorly on the first team and they just figure this kid doesn’t have what it takes?
Or maybe there is some sort of ‘off the table’ cash deal with Monza (which is owned by Berlusconi)…and the reported 6 million is really a higher amount where they are trying to cash in for themselves (and cut out Dinamo).
Who knows.
@ Maminjo
I think GK is one of our deeper positions, from senior repka down to U19/U17. Not too worried in that department.
He’s our starting U19 keeper.
He’s also the starting keeper on Chelsea’s U23 team.
We’re all over the place with goalkeepers. Some of them look good young, then are terrible a few years later. Then we get some old ones that are suddenly good. It’s just a coin toss.
We need to give Karlo Ziger a call up. A very promsing shot stopper!
Majer and Moro could easily play with our U21s already.
I haven’t seen anything other than highlights from Sucic, Gvardiol and Sutalo.
I do hope that Sucic is the real deal and can be called up sooner so that he could become a playing member of our Euro 2024 team (at age 22).
I assume they don’t call him up to the U21 team because of how loaded that team is in central midfield with guys like Majer, Moro, Bistrovic, Palaversa and Ivanusec there already.
I assume after this U21 cycle is done, the #7 and #8 roles will be taken by Palaversa and Sucic.
how come antonio marin isnt getting u21 call ups?
Torcida forever
regarding our U19/21 players
on the U21 side, we’re midstream in terms of qualifying for the U21 Euro. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_UEFA_European_Under-21_Championship_qualification
If we do qualify, players like Sosa, Sutalo, Gvardiol and Moro will undoubtly stay with the U21 team. If we don’t qualify, perhaps some will begin to get call up’s to the senior team?
The U19’s has their tournament canceled. I think the only one on the team on the path to a potential senior call up is Sucic, but I’d rather give him time to develop with Salzburg and perhaps play a little bit with the U21 team before being considered for the senior team. Would rather he has that time to develop vs. going the Halilovic route and getting rushed through everything, just to become a huge bust.
@Bećar
My guess is they were trying to showcase Gvardiol as much as possible so Dinamo could sell him.
Happy birthday to our beloved Hajduk
Forever will you be in my heart and soul
Za dom spremni
Real last night without Modric playing looked grim. Faded stars with no energy. Ramos was undisciplined, Varane lackluster, Kroos played poorly with his ridiculous hair style and brute face. Hazard seems like he is playing his first game for a new team. Just out of it. Modric came on and the game changed drastically. He is looking relaxed and super influential.
@Maminjo
Gvardiol is also born in 2002 but is on the U21 team. Why is that?
Mateo Kovacic ..
“Chelsea has only been able to defend and not attack. Kovacic is very good at linking the defense and attack with his dribbling runs through the center of the pitch and his ability to get out off tight spaces. Is Kovacic the weak link or the missing link?”
Speaking of power and explosive speed:
“ Meanwhile, the paper also provide an update on the condition of Ante Rebic, who has finally recovered from the elbow dislocation he sustained a month ago against Crotone.
Yesterday he returned to training with the rest of the group and could be called up for tomorrow’s match against Sparta in the Europa League, but would likely only feature briefly off the bench, while he could then start against Udinese.”
Zidane is behind the BS recruiting.
Lucky for us he believes in rotation and saving your legs for the business end of the season.
Let Luka enjoy his minutes with fresh legs so his magic mind can create those game shifting moments.
At this point he needs to stay with Real Modrić and lead us through another World Cup.
Croatia needs to continue to build up every single squad member to support is mastery in the middle.
Luka looks even more effective at 35 then 25.
Quickness, agility and strength do not fall off a cliff in your 30’s.
His game was never based on explosive speed and power.
Play Luka against Sweden only next month.
Utilize all non essential matches to cultivate the next generation.
Not sure what’s going on with Real Madrid. A 35 year old is still their best player
Vinicius is overrated.
They signed Eden Hazard 4 years too late.
Their young Spanish stars are underperforming.
They haven’t been pursuing the top talent in Europe for
abut 3 years now.
It’s not Zidane – it’s the GM.
Because he’s on our U19 Roster still.
He’s born in 2002.
What’s the story with future Luka (Sucic)? Why isn’t he on the U21 roster?
Good point
Yea. Save his legs for us.
I hope Zidane keeps using Modrić exactly like he is.
Real trailed 2-0 in the second half. Modric came on and final score 2-2.
Dandy cross by him on the tying goal, too.
Hahaha
Zidane keeps Modric on the bench for a game that Zidane basically has to win to keep his job. Another example of coaches gone mad.
I used to respect Zidane’s coaching but now I know he’s just another clown in charge.
Duje is boss
“Modric’s display against Barcelona showed that when he is at his best, being rested and taken care of, there is no one quite like him, and it would be a mistake to allow him to leave for free when his contract ends in June.”
Curious to see how DCC does against Man City.
How was impressed by him during our last round of matches.
I would start him and figure out who is his CB partner.