15 hours ago
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Luka Modric has been a key player for Milan this season, and despite the subpar display against Atalanta last time out, the numbers absolutely speak for themselves.
As highlighted in a long piece by Gazzetta dello Sport (see photo below) this morning, everything that Modric touches turns into gold. Despite turning 40 years old last month, Modric as captivating as he has always been throughout his successful career.
The game against Atalanta last time out was probably his least impressive performance with Milan, but despite that, he has fantastic numbers. In Serie A, he has more touches than anyone else, more passes, more completed passes and he also receives more passes.
When you consider the fact that Milan aren’t a dominant team in terms of their style of play and possession, this is even more impressive. As if that wasn’t enough, Modric also runs around 10km every game, which wasn’t a given at his age.
Allegri recognises importance
When Modric said yes to the sporting director Igli Tare in June, he accepted a lower salary than a player like him would usually get, more specifically €3.5m net for a year. Indeed, he had a clear idea of the role he would play for his boyhood club.
In short, he wanted to be a key player and, above all, to win. That’s also why he asked Milan and Tare for guarantees regarding the squad’s competitiveness and the club’s ambitions. The arrival of Max Allegri was an important piece of the puzzle in that sense.
The manager quickly realised that someone like Modric couldn’t be done without, and in the league, he has consistently started him. Only Matteo Gabbia (810 minutes) has played more than the Croatian (785 minutes).
Just to be clear, this isn’t charity either. Everything is based on his performances. For example, Modric is the Serie A player with the most touches in the first nine matchdays: 748 compared to the 717 of Napoli’s Giovanni Di Lorenzo and the 714 of Inter’s Alessandro Bastoni.
Trust and a leading role
Taking a look at some other stats, Modric also leads the league in terms of passes attempted (606, or 67 per game so far) and completed passes (559, or 62 per game). Again, this is made even more impressive by the fact that 324 of the completed ones were in the opponent’s half.
He also ranks pretty well for chances created, currently in fourth place with 20 of them, while a total of 51 passes have been made into the penalty box (fifth place). In other words, Modric provides both short and long passes, not to mention ball control.
Indeed, he’s second when it comes to progressive carries (carrying the ball at least five meters forward), having done so 159 times. In other words, the numbers are clear and certainly confirm that Milan trust him a lot.
A complete player
Having said all of the above, it’s easy to add that Modric is THE key player for the Rossoneri as things stand. A complete and irreplaceable player who, after the international break, has also helped make up for Adrien Rabiot’s absence with more defensive movement.
For confirmation on that, it’s enough to look at the rankings for interceptions, where he’s fifth with 14, and the rankings for possessions won, where he’s actually second with 54. Again, the midfielder just continues to amaze us all at the age of 40.
Now, since he didn’t impress against Atalanta in Bergamo, he has an extra incentive to do well against Roma on Sunday evening.
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