What’s the story?
Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitic has named Luka Modric as the one Real Madrid player who can play for Barcelona. In an interview with Marca he said, “He's a person I respect a lot; of course he's capable of playing for Barca because for me he is one of the top three in the world in his position.”
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"I enjoy playing with him a lot and with complete respect to everyone else, we see a different Madrid when he’s there and when he’s not,” he continued.
In case you didn’t know..
Ivan Rakitic and Luka Modric are teammates at international level with Croatia. As Ivan Rakitic put it, “He is a really good friend and I respect him a lot as a player and a person. We've spent nearly 10 years together with national team. But he's a friend away from football, too, and when we speak we don’t talk much about football; more about families and stuff.”
So seeing him first hand working his magic would have influenced him to justify his place in a Barcelona, despite the talent in their ranks, especially in midfield.
The heart of the matter
Luka Modric has been a revelation since his move to Real Madrid, with his passing ability and also his ability to run with the ball. As Ivan said, Real are a very different side with and without the Croatian midfielder.
Considered by many as the best midfielder in the world, he is really a manager’s dream. He completes 88% of his passes, and hits 3.9 long passes a game, one of the highest in the world. Since the likes of Andrea Pirlo, Paul Scholes and Xavi moved on, he has really taken on the mantle.
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Author’s Take
There is no question that Luka Modric can slot into any midfield in the world. But, a Barcelona player saying that a Real Madrid can play in their team is high praise indeed. At 31years of age, Modric’s time at the top might be restricted to two or three seasons at the most.
That is two or three seasons of watching a truly special midfield player. And Ivan agrees.
