Real Madrid News
La Liga captain showers praise on Luka Modric: “He’s a monster”
Villarreal bulldozed through Real Madrid and harvested three golden points at the end of ninety tumultuous minutes at Estadio De la Ceramica last night. The Yellow Submarines not only displayed their grit but their ability to play through adversity in what was a performance for the ages.
Talking to the press after the game, Villarreal defender and Spanish Veteran Raul Albiol revealed that Luka Modric approached him after the game to congratulate him on a stunning performance despite being 37 years old.
As quoted by Radio MARCA, he then went on to praise the Croatian International and called him a ‘monster’.
“Modrić told me he sees me young but I see him younger. He comes from playing a World Cup and I’ve been on vacation for a month. He doesn’t stop, he doesn’t have vacations. He’s a monster.”
Modric, also 37 years old, continues to defy logic week after week by churning out elite performances for fun.
After guiding his international team to the semifinals of the FIFA World Cup, he immediately returned to action for Los Blancos against Real Valladolid by cutting short his vacation.
Just a week later, he once again started the team’s clash at La Ceramica though he struggled against Quique Setien’s mid-block.
Modric struggled against the Yellow Submarines, completing less than 78% of his passes and recording no key passes. He succumbed to the opposition’s high press and lost the ball nine times in his 70 minutes on the field.
The veteran will face off against Albiol at the Ceramica later this month once again in the Copa del Rey. Needless to say, the player and Real Madrid will be determined to set the score even.
In what could be a real deal breaker for Real Madrid ahead of their Copa del Rey semi-final second leg clash against Barcelona, it has been revealed that as many as three Barça will be absent from the game while another key player remains a major doubt.
The list includes the likes of Pedri, Ousmane Dembele and Andreas Christensen. The trio is certain to miss the game through respective injuries while a certain Frenkie de Jong is more or less ruled out, as per Javi Miguel.
It must be remembered that Barcelona are heading into the second leg with a 1-0 advantage. But the absence of the aforementioned players means Madrid can work on exploiting the frailties.
Despite the absence of such big names, Barcelona did pretty well against Elche in their previous outing, coming out 4-0 victorious, with the goals coming from Robert Lewandowski, Ansu Fati and Ferran Torres.
With options lacking in midfield, Xavi decided to use the likes of Sergi Roberto and Eric Garcia along with Gavi in the heart of the lineup. In any way, they do have Sergio Busquets and Franck Kessie as backups if needed.
The defence, on the other hand, was perfectly guarded by Jordi Alba, Marcos Alonso, Ronald Araujo and Jules Kounde.
One can expect Xavi to once again interchange Araujo with Kounde on the right since the Uruguayan has been rather successful in minimizing the threat of Vinicius Jr.
As far as Madrid are concerned, they are sweating over the fitness of three key defenders, namely, Antonio Rudiger, Nacho, and Ferland Mendy. Between these three, the Frenchman is out for about a month while Rudiger and Nacho are expected to be back before the Clasico.
If there are no casualties against Real Valladolid, Madrid will have a perfect midfield and attack, with only Mariano Diaz missing.
