2026 World Cup - Croatia: Luka Modric reflects on the final against France
In a recent interview with L’Equipe, Luka Modric opened up about his memories from football’s biggest stage.
The 2018 Ballon d'Or looked back on the defeat to France in the 2018 final in Russia. According to him, his team received little help during the match and was simply unlucky.
"First, there’s the pride of having written a historic chapter in Croatian sports. As for the final itself, what really frustrates me is our lack of luck! I’d even say we didn’t catch a single break. There was that own goal from an awkward free kick, and after our brilliant equalizer, the misfortune of the penalty. Perisic didn’t intentionally handle the ball. At 2-1 down, things became really tough for us. Especially since we were up against a solid side, with top-quality players and strong organization. And of course, there was Kylian Mbappé. There was no way he wasn’t going to win the tournament’s Best Young Player award!", he explained.