The captain of the Croatian national football team and midfielder of Milan, Luka Modrić, in a big interview for the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, talked about his childhood marked by war, his football journey, his family, the coaches who marked him, his faith, but also about his arrival in Milan, the club he loved as a boy.
Modrić, winner of six Champions Leagues, Ballon d’Or and the best player of the 2018 World Cup, points out that despite everything never felt special.
I like normality. A normal family, a normal life, small things. I never thought I was better than others. If I wasn’t a football player, I would like to be a waitersays Modrić, who as a young man attended catering school in Zadar.
Milan as a boy’s dream
He confirmed that as a boy he supported Milan, primarily because of Zvonimir Boban.
Boban was my idol. Croatia at the 1998 World Cup meant something incredible to all of us. We were a small country that came out of a terrible war, but a proud onehe recalls.
Arriving in Milan is seen as closing the circle of life.
I thought I would end my career at Real Madrid, but life always surprises. If I ever had to have another club, it was Milan. I came here to winsays, reports HRT.
War and grandfather
One of the most emotionally difficult parts of the interview is about childhood and war.
My grandfather Luka was killed in 1991. I was six years old. He was killed for no reason at all. It’s a wound that never heals, said Modrić, adding that today he dreams of buying the dilapidated house where his grandfather lived.
That house is part of my life. I would like to buy it for him and for myself.
He also remembered his refugee days in Zadar, playing football in the parking lot of the Kolovare hotel, wearing Milan tracksuits and oversized football boots.
The ball helped us to have a normal childhood, even while the shells were falling, expires.
“They said I was too small and too fragile”
Modrić revealed how much his first coach meant to him Tomo Bašić.
They said I was tired, too fragile for professional football. He told me not to listen to others, but to myself. He told me that I would be the best in the world. He was rightsays Modrić.
Mourinho, Ancelotti, Allegri
He also spoke about the coaches who marked his career.
Mourinho was the strictest. I saw him how made Cristiano Ronaldo cry because for once he didn’t follow his quarterback. But he was fair to everyonehe recalls.
He says about Carlo Ancelotti that “number one, as a coach and as a man“, while he describes Massimiliano Allegri as an extremely charismatic and football-savvy expert.
Family, faith and the future
He has been with his wife Vanja since 2004.
We were never separated. She is the foundation of my strengthpoints out Modrić, who has three children.
He also speaks openly about religion.
“I would like to be a director or coach”
I believe in God. I believe that there is something after this life. I hope to meet my loved ones there againhe says.
In terms of football, he is not thinking about the end yet.
I think I still have something to give on the field. After that I would like to stay in football, as a coach or director, concludes Modrić in a conversation that caused strong reactions in Italy, and reveals the sporting greatness, but also the deeply human side of one of the greatest footballers of his generation.
(www.jabuka.tv | Photo: AC Milan)
