Real Madrid started the season with many question marks, with fans complaining about poor procurement and with the weekend sale of Casemiro, who is considered one of the team’s anchors in the midfield. But Carlo Ancelotti found out yesterday (Saturday) again that as long as Luka Modric is at his best, that’s good enough. The Croatian midfielder, soon to be 37 years old, led Real Madrid to an impressive 1:4 away victory over Celta Vigo, and drew applause from the opponent’s crowd as well.
After two penalties by Karim Benzema and Yago Espas, Modric sent a measured and rotated ball from 20 meters and gave Real a 1:2 lead. Later he gave a genius pass to Vinicius and left him alone in front of a goalkeeper, to allow the Brazilian to score and make it 1:3 which ended the difficult game.
“He is an eternal player,” Ancelotti said of the never-ending Modric, “Luka is always ready, he is always ready, he always plays well.” Ancelotti added about Modric: “The goal he scored changed the game. Until the goal, the game was balanced, competitive, Celta pressed us well, it was difficult for us to move the ball. In the second half, they came down with intensity, and our passing game was spectacular.”
Modric also knew how to appreciate the moment he was substituted, and as he walked off the pitch, Celta fans stood up and applauded him. “It was a beautiful moment, it makes me happy when fans appreciate your fact, I can only thank them,” Modric said. Even in Spain they knew how to appreciate the moment. “The last time we remember when a crowd cheered for an opposing player was Leo Messi in a Barcelona uniform,” Marca wrote, “this illustrates how great the appreciation for Modric is in the soccer world.”
The good news for Real is the inclusion of Orleans Tshoumani, who will try to take Casemiro’s place. Modric: “It’s a shame he left, we made history with him, and he had a crucial part. We will miss him a lot, both as a person and as a player, and it was sad to see him leave. But that’s part of football, and we’ll have to go on without him.”
Carlo Ancelotti is also optimistic after this victory. “We are happy. We played well,” said the coach of Real Madrid, “We had good personal displays from players who have not played much, they are new. Tshoumani played really well, and also Kambinga. We showed a lot of energy on the field and the performance was good, we are confident about the future. There We have players who can play in different positions, it helps the team. I think the squad we have is a really good squad, I have no doubt about that.”