GdS: ‘Derby between friends’ – Vlasic and Modric face off in Torino-Milan

Luka Modric and Nikola Vlasic are friends away from the field, but tonight they will be opponents and opposite numbers.

Last January, in an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport, Vlasic included Modric in his select pantheon of the greatest. “It’s crazy: you can’t even try to press him because he never lets you have the ball.” An admiration that borders on reverence for the 2018 Ballon d’Or winner.

As the paper (seen below) write, they wore the Croatia shirt together on 44 occasions. Once, Luka assisted Nikola, once the opposite happened. In their last match, the 3-2 victory on November 17 in Podgorica against Montenegro, Modric came on with a quarter of an hour remaining and Vlasic scored the decisive goal in the 87th minute,.

The Granata man had also scored a few days earlier against the Faroe Islands, in the match that sealed Croatia’s qualification for the 2026 World Cup. The latest international window marked Nikola’s return to top form for his national team, as he was both a starter and a scorer in one fell swoop.

Captain and commander

For Luka, however, the campaign in Canada, Mexico, and the United States (his fifth World Cup) will likely be his last showcase with the national team. In Croatia, Modric is obviously a legend, and not just for his excellent performance on the pitch.

His humility, sense of duty and the leadership with which he inspires his team-mates make him the perfect example of a national hero. These are qualities he brought naturally to the Milan dressing room, where he quietly entered, despite having won 34 trophies in an exceptional career.

Luka doesn’t need to raise his voice or make himself noticed. Like all true captains (he is, of course, Croatia’s), he ‘commands’ almost silently. Vlasic and Modric are not best friends like the former is with Mario Pasalic, but the respect and mutual admiration is there.

Vlasic’s reverence for Luka is easily explained even by those who don’t know either player, the Milan player’s respect for Nikola stems from his high regard for the man and the professional. “Have you seen how well Vlasic is doing at Torino?” the former Real Madrid player recently asked a mutual friend in a phone conversation.

Modric is a true football fanatic, he watches matches constantly and, obviously, has a special eye for his national team-mates. For one night, however, the two will be ‘enemies’. It’s not the first time, and the precedents are surprising.

In the group stage of the 2018-19 Champions League, Vlasic was a young player on the rise with CSKA Moscow, while Modric is already a pillar at Real Madrid. The first leg on 2 October 2018, saw the Russians win 1-0 with a goal from Nikola himself.

The second leg on December 12 – nine days after Modric was awarded the Ballon d’Or – saw CSKA incredibly repeat the feat, conquering the Bernabeu with a resounding 3-0 victory. Vlasic had a hand in the match with an assist. And Luka? He was on the bench for 90 minutes, but not tonight.