Luka Modric celebrates a goal with Real Madrid. /
Before the classic, the whole world highlights his football skills, but his teammates extol, above all, his human values
A few weeks ago I stayed for a coffee with Diego López, the current Rayo Vallecano goalkeeper and former Real Madrid player. I asked him about his most precious memory of the years in which he shared a season with Cristiano Ronaldo, Benzema, Marcelo, Sergio Ramos, Di María, Modric and other stars. He spoke to me about the importance of having a cohesive dressing room, Ancelotti’s ability to manage the group delicately and the relevance of those players who, in the shadows, contribute humanity on a day-to-day basis. “Luka Modric is an incredible player, but he is even better as a person.”
In addition to Madrid, Diego López has played for Villarreal, Sevilla, Milan, Espanyol and now for Rayo. In every locker room he has met individuals who act as group glue. At Villarreal, for example, he says that Santi Cazorla’s work was essential. The key to these leaders is simple: they are good people who bond with others and make them feel good, which, according to psychologists, increases the performance of the individual and the entire group.
Andalusians have a reputation for being hyperbolic. The Galicians, no. So that statement by Diego López disconcerted me so much that I became interested in finding out what other footballers who had agreed with Modric said. Diego López’s trial was not exaggerated. On Father’s Day, Rodrygo Goes congratulates Luka. The Croatian refers to the Brazilian as “son” and the latter reciprocates by calling him “father”. The origin of this family treatment dates back to the day Modric found out that Rodrygo’s father was only one year older than himself. So he decided to exercise a kind of paternalistic guardianship with the young Rodrygo.
When Modric won the Ballon d’Or, everyone praised his game. But those who know him were happy for the mark that the 10 of Madrid has left on their lives. According to Diego López, he is the humblest person he has ever met in a locker room: “he behaves like a countryman.” The goalkeeper acknowledges that he found it enormously inspiring how someone of his brilliance as a footballer, his fame and wealth, went through his life as a neighbor of any Galician village, like the one Diego comes from.
Didier Dechamps says that Modric is the paradigm of “football and psychological leader”. He has a prodigious technique, a surgical precision in the pass and, in addition, he is a goalscorer. “He does it all, he moves, he plays, he runs, he assists and he scores goals.” But to arouse the respect and admiration of his teammates, moral qualities are also needed, which Dechamps acknowledges: “Modric is a good person, humble and honest.”
So nobody can tell Sergio Ramos that he exaggerates like an Andalusian when he points to Modric when asked about the best person he has ever met in football. Those who have met him say that he simply can’t help it: he is constantly taking care of himself and worrying about the well-being of others, which shakes the conscience of his teammates in a sport that often tends towards egomania.
After Rüdiger received a tremendous blow in the last match against Shakhtar, he had to be stitched up near the eye with a suture equivalent to 20 stitches. Even before showering, Alaba was the first to appear in the makeshift surgical room. He kissed his partner’s forehead and stayed until the end of the intervention. Kroos also showed affection to Rüdiger with a caress on the leg. «There is less left, friend; There’s less to go, Rüdi », Lucas Vázquez encouraged him while they sewed him, accompanying his words of encouragement with a few pats on the waist. Modric could not miss: he was seen shuddering at the cries of pain from his colleague.
Soccer players are seen as tough and seasoned guys. But this does not imply that they lack sensitivity. People imagine Kroos as a cold and distant German, with no capacity for tenderness. But it is enough to enter a locker room to see that a team is sometimes closer to a group of friends, even a family, than many other groups. With his humility, generosity and kindness, Luka Modric helps to bring out the best in others. He already has the Ballon d’Or, but I would establish a Nobel Prize for friendship and give it to the Croatian. A genius with the ball, who enhances the art of football. A good man, who encourages in everyone the pride of belonging to the human species.
