Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric says that former teammate Cristiano Ronaldo congratulated him after his UEFA award victory.
Modric has had the best year of his career after securing a third successive Champions League crown with Madrid and reaching the World Cup final with Croatia. The diminutive playmaker was an instrumental part of both teams, but his displays on the international stage have really elevated his status over the summer, as he won the Golden Ball for the best player at the finals in Russia.
He led by example as his country’s captain as Klatko Dalic’s men made it all the way through to the showpiece event, where they ultimately fell to a 4-2 defeat against France. Wins against Argentina, the tournament hosts and England along the way impressed millions of fans around the globe and earned Croatia the highest finish of their entire history in the competition.
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At club level with Los Blancos, Modric was equally as effective, however, Ronaldo has usually received most of the plaudits for the team’s success, given his prolific strike rate over the last ten years.
But the 32-year-old veteran managed to beat his ex-colleague – who has now moved on to Juventus – to UEFA’s best player in Europe award last week, despite the Portuguese being initially installed as the favourite for the accolade – as per UEFA.com.
What a year! Thanks Real Madrid, Croatia National team and everybody who helped me to achieve this amazing award ??? #UEFAawards pic.twitter.com/f3zVV9Mq3s
— Luka Modri? (@lukamodric10) August 30, 2018
According to Record, Ronaldo chose to skip the awards ceremony after his snub, but Modric has revealed that the ex-Madrid star congratulated him in the wake of receiving his new distinction, as he told reporters: “I’m happy to be in the finalists [of The Best] and what happens, it will happen.
“There are people to decide. I have a good relationship with Ronaldo, he will continue in the same.
“For me individual prizes are important, but more important I’m not obsessed with it, we’ve already talked about it, he sent me a message to congratulate him, said he was happy and that I deserved it, and he said that he wanted to see me soon.”
The Ballon d’Or winner will be announced later in the year and the Croatian star will now be a front-runner for the award as he bids to end the dominance of Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in the competition’s voting, who have shared the award equally over the last decade.