We first saw him as a hero reassured to have been able to redeem himself from his missed penalty by deceiving his tormentor Gigio Donnarumma a few seconds later to open the scoring against Italy. Then we left him looking crestfallen, man of the match trophy in hand, just after Zacchagni’s equalizer, synonymous with almost elimination from Euro 2024 for Croatia. A difficult scenario to swallow even when you have all the experience in the world like the Real Madrid midfielder.
“It’s very stressful, we fought until the end, but unfortunately football was merciless with us tonight, it was cruel,” said Luka Modric at a press conference, who became the oldest scorer of the history of the European Championship at 38 years and 289 days. “It’s hard to find the words to describe what it feels like to lose like that. »
Modric rails against added time
With two points, Croatia must wait to know if it is among the four best third-placed teams to hope to qualify for the round of 16.
“The football gods don’t always smile on us, but we can be proud of the way we represented our country tonight,” concluded the captain, his face closed in front of the press, adding: “I don’t know where The referee found eight minutes of added time. Even King Luka can show a little seum from time to time.