The Luka Modric moment that might have knocked Croatia out of Euro 2024

Luka Modric is accustomed to receiving individual accolades in the depths of disappointment. After the 2018 World Cup final, he learnt he had got the Golden Ball for the tournament. As it seemed Croatia had been ejected from Euro 2024 by the last kick of a game, a seminal victory turned into a seismic blow. Mattia Zaccagni’s 98th-minute goal had barely curled in when the final whistle blew; perhaps on a tournament career for Modric that dates back to the 2006 World Cup.

It is safe to assume it was of scant consolation that he was promptly named man of the match. He had a record to accompany an award; the oldest scorer ever in a European Championship – at least until Cristiano Ronaldo strikes – is Modric, three months away from his 39th birthday. His final contribution to the competition, however, may have come as his prize was announced: applauding the bank of Croatia fans in Leipzig. It may be premature to call it a valedictory salute; partly because there is still a combination of results that can send Croatia through, partly because it is dangerous to assume Modric will retire from international duty.

Yet if that was the end on such a stage, what a way to go. He was valiant but in vain. It was a horribly cruel conclusion; Modric was a spectator when Zaccagni went for the spectacular. Removing him felt like a gamble that backfired from manager Zlatko Dalic; he seemed to be saving Modric for a last-16 tie with Switzerland that Italy will now contest, imagining his captain was the match-winner. “I didn’t want to necessarily waste him for more minutes,” he said. “I wanted to give him the opportunity to rest up. He wasn’t in any way tired. I wanted to bring on someone fresher for the last 10 or 15 minutes because Luka had given everything.”

That is almost an understatement. It was both a classic Modric performance and something very different, the kind of tour de force that stems from a ferocious sense of competitiveness. The slight figure has not reached and sustained such heights for so long due to elegance in possession alone. Take the moment when Gianluigi Donnarumma had to parry a menacing low cross from the right: because of an overlapping run from the oldest man on the pitch.

Or, after a quarter of an hour, when Modric dispossessed Lorenzo Pellegrini on the left touchline and hared off down it, becoming the most advanced Croatian on the pitch, looking to power clear. He did not quite succeed but the aged metronome was seeking to reinvent himself as a midfield dynamo.

If it hinted at a ubiquity, it was encapsulated in a crazy 33 seconds. It created one impression after 55 minutes, another after 98. The missed penalty, saved by Donnarumma, was followed barely half a minute later by the cathartic goal, the finish of a penalty-box poacher, not a professional playmaker. Modric, it seemed, had determined Croatia’s destiny by force of personality; as though, after years as Real Madrid’s answer to Xavi, he had belatedly discovered his inner Steven Gerrard. That all-action style was encapsulated in an uncharacteristically wild lunge at Davide Frattesi, which brought a booking. Modric, it appeared, was playing on adrenalin, fuelled by patriotism. As some of his sidekicks in Croatia’s finest ever side have left the stage, whether by injury or age, retirement or rejection, while most of their successors have failed to reach the same standards, he felt he had to be everyone: Mario Mandzukic, Ivan Rakitic, Ivan Perisic, Ante Rebic, Dejan Lovren, Domagoj Vida.

Cruelly, though, there was a callback to the more distant past: not 2018, but 2008. Sixteen years ago, Croatia exited a European Championships in part because of a missed penalty by Modric, in the shootout against Turkey. A spurned spot kick appeared irrelevant when he struck half a minute later; when Zaccagni levelled, however, it left an alternative history.

More pertinently, it cast Dalic’s decision to remove him in a different light. Croatia have a midfield trio with a combined age of 99. They lost control after taking off two of their passers: Mateo Kovacic on 70 minutes, Modric on 80. The rhythmic chorus of “Luka” from his adoring public gave way to a more anxious feel. Meanwhile, Luciano Spalletti overloaded with attackers, admitting he barely had a midfield. Croatia removed theirs.

Perhaps that awkward balance of veteran midfielders and lesser, younger replacements partly explains why they have conceded in the 95th and 98th minutes against Albania and Italy. Those are the goals that explain their exit; why Modric, a genuine World Cup great, may not have the same status in the European Championship. His five tournaments have brought one quarter-final, two last-16 exits and now, probably, two group-stage departures. He had missed a penalty but, as Dalic said, given everything; he had done virtually everything. Except complete the game and the manager who took that decision said: “I am the one who takes responsibility, I hold my hands up. I am the one to blame if we don’t get through to the knockout stage.” It was a noble gesture and perhaps others may blame Dalic, too. But despite his struggles from 12 yards, no one should blame Modric.