Croatian skipper, Luka Modric has revealed that he told his teammates at Real Madrid before heading to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Modric said while discussing about World Cup in their dressing room, nobody gave his country a chance but he told his teammates at Real Madrid to “watch out for Croatia.”
The 37-year-old Real Madrid midfield maestro disclosed this in an interview with RTVE on Monday ahead of the semifinal match between Croatia and Argentina.
He said the fact that his country is small and the players are not the favourites to win the World Cup has been their motivation to give their best and turned out to be their strength.
“Given that we are small, no one counted on us. But we don’t mind that others are favourites and we are in the shadows. We can only do our best, try hard, and that is exactly our strength.
“Before I left for the World Cup, we talked a lot in the [Madrid] dressing room, during which I told them: ‘Watch out for Croatia’,” Modric said.
Croatia were runners-up at the Russia World Cup in 2018, and have been impressive at the ongoing edition after beating Japan and Brazil in the round of 16 and quarterfinal matches. They beat the two teams through penalty shootouts.
Speaking ahead of today’s game, Modric said his team will have big challenges in stopping Argentina’s captain, Lionel Messi.
“I have the desire to play, but not only to play against one player. Of course, Messi is an excellent player, we will have big problems to stop him, but we are ready and we will do our best.
“Argentina is a big team. We will try to play the best match of the tournament, the best match of our lives. I hope that it will be enough to enter the final,” Modric added.