Croatia’s Luka Modric wants to carry on despite Euro 2024 disappointment

LEIPZIG – Croatia captain Luka Modric has said he would look to continue playing on for his country, despite their likely elimination from Euro 2024.

In a heartbreaking finish to their final Group B game on June 24, the Croats conceded a last-gasp goal in a 1-1 draw with Italy at the Red Bull Arena in Leipzig.

Modric, the Ballon d’Or winner in 2018 when Croatia reached the World Cup final in Moscow, put his team ahead seconds after having a penalty saved.

But he then watched in horror, after being taken off, as Italy’s Mattia Zaccagni curled home the equaliser with the last kick of the game deep in stoppage time.

The draw sent the reigning champions into the last 16 as group runners-up behind Spain, and left Croatia third with two points – unlikely to be enough to take one of the spots reserved for the four best third-placed finishers.

Despite the disappointment, the 38-year-old Modric suggested he wanted to carry on, even after 178 internationals since his debut in 2006.

“I’d like to keep playing forever, but there probably will come a time when I must hang up my boots. I’ll keep playing on, but I don’t know for how much longer,” said the midfielder, whose 34-year-old Real Madrid teammate Toni Kroos is playing for Germany for the last time before retiring from football.

Modric is competing in his fifth European Championship and has also appeared at four World Cups.

Croatia’s best result was a second-placed finish at the 2018 World Cup, while they placed third in the 2022 edition in Qatar. They also finished runners-up in the 2023 Nations League, but have never progressed further than the quarter-finals at the Euro.

With all the unfinished business, Modric said he would not be retiring from football yet, as he continues to perform at the highest level after also winning his sixth Champions League title with Real earlier in June.

On the Italy game, he was resigned in his analysis, while his coach Zlatko Dalic bemoaned the eight minutes of stoppage time that gave Zaccagni the chance to score.

“The game was very stressful. We kept battling right until the end, but football was merciless with us tonight. It was cruel today, but also in our last match (a 2-2 draw with Albania), when we also conceded a late goal,” Modric said.

“But that’s part and parcel of football. Often it gives you plenty of smiles but, on other occasions, it makes you very sad, as it did today. It’s hard when you lose like this to find the words to describe how you feel. Of course, we need to bounce back. But that’s the way it is.” REUTERS, AFP