Luka ModricThe exit from the stage of the World Cup and, with it, possibly also international football, has not become the beau idéal or a perfect 10, a number that has done so adorably and seductively over the years. The end was, however, dramatic – and cruel. As Croatia thought Josko Gvardiol’s late equalizer against Portugal was enough to defy the inevitable, enter VAR with his plot habit to turn it into a famous cause. Modric, who seemed stoically detached from the chaos around him, his face reflecting a resigned resignation to fate, was slowly enveloped in a warm embrace by Cristiano Ronaldo. It was a moment of catharsis. Of the two middle-aged men, Ronaldo He will now go further into the tournament, but Modric’s fifth bid for the biggest prize will remain elusive. “I played with Luka for many years. We are almost the same age. He is a legend of football; he is still a legend of football, because he continues to play so well and with great quality. The 40-year-old Croatian – often hailed as the greatest player from the tiny and proud Central European country – closed the curtain on his World Cup career with a silver and a bronze medal, along with the Golden Ball and the Bronze Ball. A sportsman’s eternal thirst to fulfill an endeavor often comes with his presumed value and a reassuring order, but to judge Modric by this perception is nothing more than a conventional valediction. Because piety has never been a requirement to generate passion in his game, because his football has always weighed with his life-affirming nature. This is where it is unique, perhaps offering a more human conception of a sports hero. If Davor Suker – a goal machine par excellence – represented a symbol of hope and happiness for a newly independent Croatia, helping them finish third in the 1998 World Cup, Modric extended that legacy, serving as a bridge between the country’s stunning arrival and its new identity in the 21st century as a footballing powerhouse. Modric himself was a child of Croatia’s battle for independence, his early years turning him into a refugee moving from place to place in search of survival. Fortunately, instead of taking up arms, I found calm in the midst of chaos in football. Since his football has sought to restore order to disorder, and this has helped him rise above the mediocre. In his delightfully seductive presence, in those sumptuous jokes or crosses out of the boot, the beauty has been like an object of transcendental elegance, like Roger Federer’s backhand – evoking a mysticism in terms of the transition from defense to attack, and the attack into a winner before the opponents could even understand. Like any No. 10, he was a quintessential dreamer with the ball. Tottenham gave him the platform to announce his arrival, and it was in Real Madrid where he really found his dramatic stage to realize his dream, marrying his method with an inexhaustible rhetorical fantasy. It was never stereotypical, but rather a symphony of pure joy. His rise as the heartbeat of the Spanish club has coincided with Croatia’s most successful period in international football, finishing second in the 2018 World Cup and third four years later in Qatar. In his last dance on the world stage, he could have fallen like an old king, but not before thrilling the crowd. Football will feel a little empty now, but Modric’s legacy will be lasting.