![\"The](\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-132175468,imgsize-134700,width-400,height-225,resizemode-4\/fifa-wc-2026-portugal-vs-croatia.jpg\" "\\"Croatia's")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nLuka Modric<\/a>\u2019s exit from the World Cup stage and, with it, possibly international football as well, did not turn out to be the beau id\u00e9al or a perfect 10, a number he has so adoringly and alluringly made his own over the years. The end was, though, dramatic \u2014 and cruel. As Croatia thought Josko Gvardiol\u2019s late equaliser against Portugal was enough to defy the inevitable, enter VAR with its usual plot twist to turn it into a cause c\u00e9l\u00e8bre. Modric, looking stoically detached from the chaos around him, his face reflecting a sobering resignation to fate, was slowly enveloped in a warm hug from Cristiano Ronaldo<\/a>. It was a moment of catharsis. Of the two middle-aged men, Ronaldo<\/a> will now go deeper into the tournament, but Modric\u2019s fifth bid for the biggest prize will remain elusive. \u201cI played with Luka for many years. We\u2019re almost the same age. He\u2019s a football legend; he\u2019s still a football legend because he keeps playing so well and with such great quality. It\u2019s incredible,\u201d Ronaldo later let his feelings be known to the world. The 40-year-old Croatian \u2014 often hailed as the greatest player from the tiny, proud Central European country \u2014 is ringing the curtain down on his World Cup career with a silver and a bronze medal, with the Golden Ball and the Bronze Ball to boot. A sportsperson\u2019s eternal thirst for completing an endeavour often comes with its presumed value and a reassuring order, but judging Modric through this perception is anything but a conventional valediction. Because pity has never been a requisite for generating passion in his play, because his football has always throbbed with its life-affirming nature. This is where he is unique, perhaps offering a more humane conception of a sporting hero. If Davor Suker \u2014 a goal-machine par excellence \u2014 represented a symbol of hope and happiness for a newly independent Croatia by helping them finish third in the 1998 World Cup, Modric has extended that legacy, serving as a bridge between the country\u2019s astounding arrival and its new identity in the 21st century as a football powerhouse. Modric himself was a child of Croatia\u2019s battle for independence, his early years turning him into a refugee moving from one place to another in search of survival. Luckily, instead of picking up arms, he found in football the calm amid the chaos. His football has since sought to restore order to disorder, and this has helped him rise above the mediocre. In his delightfully alluring presence, in those sumptuous outside-of-the-boot flicks or crosses, beauty has resided like an object of transcending elegance, like Roger Federer\u2019s backhand \u2014 conjuring up a mystique in how it transitions defence into attack, and attack into a winner before opponents could even get a grasp of it. Like every No. 10, he has been a quintessential dreamer with the ball. Tottenham gave him the platform to announce his arrival, and it was at Real Madrid where he truly found his dramatic stage to realise his dream, marrying his method with an unflinching rhetorical fancy. It was never stereotypical, but rather a symphony of pure joy. His rise as the heartbeat of the Spanish club coincided with Croatia\u2019s 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\u2019s stage, he might have tumbled like an ageing king, but not before thrilling the crowd. Football will feel a bit empty now, but Modric\u2019s legacy will be a lasting one.<\/div>\n