At EURO 2024, Luka Modric is the second oldest player participating in the tournament, born in 1985 and only a month younger than superstar Ronaldo.
EURO 2024 can be considered Modric’s last major tournament and in the 54th minute of the match against Italy this morning, he had the opportunity to become the oldest player to score at a EURO finals when standing in front of the penalty spot opposite the opponent. Italian sport Donnarumma.
Many Croatian fans thought this would be a goal.
But Modric gave a rather gentle shot, unable to beat Donnarumma. And no one expected that after less than 1 minute, Modric had the opportunity to correct his mistake.
In the 55th minute, from a cross on the right wing, in a rare moment of indifference by the Italian defense, Ante Budimir, who had just come on as a substitute at the beginning of the second half, had a chance to touch the ball close to the goal. Goalkeeper Donnarumma excellently pushed the ball out and Modric was there at the right time, at the right time to kick the ball into Italy’s net to open the score.
Looking at the way Modric hugged his face in celebration as if trying to hold back tears of stunned, you can understand how emotional he was. It’s a very special feeling to score at a EURO finals when you’re almost 39 years old.
And more importantly, just 1 minute before, Modric was blaming himself for missing the penalty kick that gave Croatia the opportunity to advance to the knockout round.
Croatia seemed to have withstood all of Italy’s might, only to fall asleep on a late counter-attack in stoppage time and Livakovic had no chance to stop his net from rippling. That was a cut from the home field by midfielder Ricardo Calafiori. He pushed straight into the center circle, then caught the return ball from his teammate to run up and up again before launching himself and flicking the ball into the penalty area.
There was a huge gap when substitute Mattia Zaccagni rushed into the penalty area, he shot a technical shot, drew a beautiful curve, pinned the ball into the top corner of the goal, making Livakovic a spectator.
The Croatian players collapsed on the field after this unbelievable ending. They knew they had been eliminated, and the public felt the pain when Modric had to end his international career in his 178th appearance after becoming the oldest scorer at Euro at 38 years 289 day.
Sharing after the match (recorded by France24), the Real Madrid midfielder appeared extremely disappointed. He said: “We fought to the end but unfortunately, today football was too cruel to us. It was cruel, but it is an inevitable part of football.”
“It’s hard to find words to describe the feeling of losing like this. Maybe it’s unfair because we all really fought for Croatia from the first whistle. We should be proud how I represent my country today.”
For Croatia, it was unbelievably heartbreaking. They are not mathematically eliminated, but it is highly unlikely that they will make it out of the group stage as the third-placed team with 2 points.
Croatia will be eliminated if England cannot beat Slovenia 3-0 or by a margin of 4 goals, or Denmark cannot beat Serbia.
