Luka Modrić scored the opener for Real Madrid in the 5th minute Saturday as Los Blancos won 3-1 with two huge late 2nd half goals. Modrić made a perfect run to the back post and received an even better pass from Vini for the tap-in goal. He received a 7/10 grade from FOTMOB as Modrić had “Smart movement for the early goal. Classy performance overall, even if the game was won after he left the pitch.” Modrić was subbed off in the 77′ with the winning goal coming from substitute Lucas Vazquez two minutes later. Real Madrid earn all three points and remain top of La Liga.
Ante Budimir scored his 1st La Liga goal of the season Thursday night (header off a corner) as Osasuna beat Espanyol 1-0. It’s been a rough patch for Budimir as many Croatian supporters (including myself) would like to see him left off the World Cup squad next month. This goal opens his La Liga account for the season but there’s not enough there to earn meaningful minutes in Qatar.
Bayern Munich loanee, Gabriel Vidović, scored his first goal in the Dutch Eredivisie Saturday in a 2-1 win over Emmen. Vidović was cool and calm in the box as he collected the ball, shifted his angle to the left, and fired away. Vidović has been capped three times by the Croatia U21 side after briefly playing for the U15 German team. He was born in Augsburg, Germany.
Mateo Kovačić comes on in the 36th minute as Casemiro’s 94th minute equalizer deflates Stamford Bridge in Chelsea’s 1-1 draw versus Manchester United.
Andrej Kramarić returned from a minor knock and came on in the 61st minute for Hoffenheim in a 2-0 loss to Bayern Munich.
Modric pulling a rakitic and letting his spanish club allegiance take priority over the national team. seen this script before. He’s still fit to play after this.. If he truly placed Hrvatska above all, he would say I will stay on and play as a sub if necessary and help to transition this next generation over.
Instead, he wants to maximize his club career and be able to take vacation trips to the coast of spain during the international club breaks. He’ll regret it.
This is a terrible take. He’s 37 years old. Playing for even one team at his age takes a physical and mental toll. He’s given his all for the NT and has played for much longer than anyone would have expected
Its official modric said katar is his last tournament for Croatia
I saw it going around
But did he say this in a press conference for real??
We all had hoped for euro to be his last but hey if this is it this is it
Enjoy it and let’s hope he can bring his magic for one more month
I saw he was being rested in next Champions league match
This is good
Broz will be fine, even with the smoking he has lungs of a horse
I think kova will be fine He apparently made a big impact when he came on last match
We are three weeks out till we break for camp in preparation for the World Cup.
At this point I would go with rest over rust.
Kovačić seems to need rest for his knee.
Love for Modrić to stop playing every three days and let his popeye calves take a break.
Perišić is getting rotated but Spurs suck without him on the pitch, go figure? Not sure what Conte has in mind?
Brozovic will be back soon and should get some game minutes to get his legs and lungs going. His light frame seems to be able to run on demand.
It’s really the young guys who need to be playing for their confidence and to show they have earned a spot in our 26 man squad.
Wonder if Majer should have a bigger role with us since Kovacic and Brozovic may have fitness issues.
Always thought Juranovic was a lock in the Celtic first team but in recent games, he seems to be rotated with Scotland international Anthony Ralston. Always good for our guys to get a rest but since Juranovic is our first choice RB, I hope he doesn’t lose his place at Celtic especially with WC just round the corner (not good for self-confidence) and also bearing in mind our second choice RB Stanisic hardly plays at Bayern.
This World Cup will be a battle of attrition.
5 subs – the deeper the squad the better chance you have.
Rebić not part of 26 of the best available nogometaši walking the planet?
And I am delusional?
Listen if he is not aligned with our flow then fine.
But to pretend like he was not an asset in 2018 and could play his part now is limited.
I’ll take Ljubičić in a heart beat.
You see Luka Modrić for Real Madrid?
You see the front line they have.
We can’t expect him to carry us in Qatar.
Just like Real Modrić has gotten back to Real Madrid.
Don’t waste his genius with slow scrubs up front.
You need vertical speed and presence up top.
Musa is a hungry monster as well.
So, when does Kovačić get to start for Chelsea again?
Potter on why Kovacic didn’t start:
“Mateo’s been nursing his knee all season pretty much. When you then look at the schedule, it’s impossible for him to start all games. We’ve planned for him to have less time but things have conspired against us and we’ve needed him in games.”
Yikes, let’s hope Mateo will be all right.
https://www.goalstube.online/2022/10/angers-rennes.html?m=m3
Well struck penalty from Majer.
What a kick from the goalie to set up the penalty!
Best goal was the first one, by Angers. Nasty dummy leading to a great team goal.
Caleta-Car getting turned inside-out multiple times by Jesus. I didn’t realize how slow and poor he plays. Hopefully Dalic doesn’t waste a spot on him.
He is not very good, especially in the games he played for the National Squad you could see it.
Also at the Euro, he played very poorly. Lovren and Vida were necessary there because Duje was just not up to snuff.
Anyone catch the Juve v Torino match? Vlasic played as the lone striker and had a decent match statistically. Still only won 1/4 aerial duels.
For all you delusional fans that genuinely believe Rebic will start in the World Cup or even consider him as a option is absurd. He’s been on the bench for Milan and they are at the top and been doing fine.Milan just won yesterday and did it with ease. Rebic has problems listening to authority. I guarantee you even Modric made a comment too to Dalic regarding his conduct at the Euros. We already know our offence is lacking. Pasalic, Brekalo, Orsic and Perisic are all fine if they started. Maybe even Vlasic. But Budimir sinking his first one of the season two and half months in is inexcusable.
There is no point in arguing against the Rebic supporters. Some individuals only see speed as an asset for a person upfront. Understandably it is important, but if you are going to continuously put the National team at a disadvantage by giving up the ball, coupled with the amount of goals he scores a season even when in form should suggest that he is not worth playing at all.
This should end the discussion here, but people seem to continue on this line of reasoning that he is some great player when really he isn’t. Even his contribution is not up to the level it would need to be to justify a reckless player on the team.
Which are the reasons I would say take that risk on someone else like Colak who has some experience and way more goals than Rebic this season. Or Ljubicic who is a young prospect that is scoring many goals as well. I think that this is common sense to me, when you don’t have strong number 9, call upon the players who are scoring the most right now plain and simple.
Look it is not unheard of for a younger player to make their mark on the sport, Mbappe is a prime example of someone who broke through the mold at the age of 18 or 19 during World Cup 2018, it’s not impossible but albeit very improbable to happen. However, I don’t think we have another way out right now.
Ante Rebic: A strange performance because he covered a lot of ground but was constantly misplacing the final pass especially with Hernandez and Diaz. He should’ve scored but continues to make a real impact off the ball. 6/10
This is Rebic in a nutshell.
Watch the AC MILAN hi lites and keep an eye on Rebic whenever someone else takes a shot on goal inside the box or close to it.
He’s constantly throwing mini tantrums, his arms in the air in disgust even when it’s a good scoring opportunity for his teammates.He’s obviously pissed they didn’t pass to him so he can rocket it 30 rows up into the stands.
Not a good look and speaks volumes about him!
Congratulations on luka playing his 450th game for the los Blancos
Amazing achievement
CM: Luka Modric (c) – 7/10 – Smart movement for the early goal. Classy performance overall ..
His face looks 47, he plays like he is 27 and he is actually 37!!
Captains Real Madrid to a win to be 6 points clear at the top of La Liga.
Actually would like to see even more rest and rotation for him these next two weeks.
https://streamja.com/OGXbb
Vidovic with a goal.
https://www.goalstube.online/2022/10/real-madrid-sevilla.html?m=1
Luka.
I agree the rakitic ship has sailed but I would have loved to see him and luka line up again in that midfield
Like you know the Canadian midfield will be star struck to line up against luka
If it was raketa as well they would be frozen from what they can do to control the game
Oh well, there will be others that take his place
Raketa full respect for making the right choice with us
His biggest stain was that header in 2012 against Spain
But obviously his World Cup heroics wiped that away and then some
The biggest stain on Rakitic as far as I’m concerned is the fact that after the 2018 WC he refused to play for the Vatreni in the EURO 2020 qualifiers. He had issues at Barcelona and had lost his spot in the starting 11. Dalic would call him up for the national team, but he would always come up with some bull…t excuse and not show up. This went on for some time before Rakitic announced that he was retiring from the national team. Agree that he was one of our best performers at the 2018 WC, but his antics and commitment to the national team after that pissed me off.
He almost screwed us.
We had a bad start to those qualifiers, and we needed some wins.
Luckily Vlašić and Petković were having career years and stepped in huge for us, which resulted in some big wins against Hungary, Slovakia (twice) and a road draw in Wales (with Vlašić opening the scoring in all four games).
Rakitić is our second-best ever midfielder, but he’s still an indecisive little pička when it comes to prioritizing what the Spainards (his wife, Barca fans, and Sevilla fans) think of him.
You are spot on with your comments. From memory Rakitic did not want to play in the qualifying matches but still wanted to pIay at the EURO. This was unacceptable to Dalic and rightly so and he told him, and this is when Rakitic announced his retirement from the national team.
Hi maminjo. Your posts are usually spot on and interesting. So I don’t want to criticise you too much. Even this post is completely true….apart from the last bit! Rakitic second best ever midfielder?? Boban? Prosinecki are ahead of him. I would say even kovac and asanovic are ahead. In fact so is brozovic. That makes him our 7th best ever midfielder
Yea, I think that (behind Modric) there is a large pool of quality midfielders who are in the same ball park.
I love Brozovic and I think by the time his career ends, he may surpass Rakitic…but it’ll be close.
Boban, Prosinecki and Asanovic were great, but at the same time, we didn’t get enough of them (since they were already heading toward their late-20s when they were allowed to play for Croatia).
Rakitic had more kicks at the can for the National Team than Boban, Prosinecki and Asanovic.
Eventually, he capped it off brilliantly with a World Cup silver where he scored the game winning penalty (twice) during the run. That’s hard to top.
But he had the opportunity to play in five tournaments for us, as opposed to Boban and them (who only got to play in two) and they capped off their international careers in the worst possible way (a home draw to Yugoslavia, that cost them a Euro2000 spot).
It’s hard to compare them all without taking into consideration their club careers and Raketa has had a better club career than any of them, and made a huge impact at Sevilla and Barcelona. Brozovic will probably be an Inter legend too.
Only Boban had a comparable career to these two, whereas Prosinecki was injured a lot and Asanovic was a journeyman.
Kovac had heart, but he shouldn’t be mentioned amongst these elite caliber midfielders. He helped us alot in those post-war years (when our talent was decimated and we relied heavily on diaspora players and other players who largely developed outside of Cro, like Dado Prso) but that doesn’t make him on par with these other guys. Talent is talent.
Great post overall but I have to disagree with this statement Maminjo,
“Boban and them (who only got to play in two) and they capped off their international careers in the worst possible way (a home draw to Yugoslavia, that cost them a Euro2000 spot).”,
if I remember correctly the first match in Belgrade where they shut the stadium lights off for over 2hrs to intimidate the players was the main reason for this outcome.
The momentum was on our side, you could feel the energy and win but sadly, dirty tactics caused the 0-0 draw.
If this doesn’t happen, I’m positive the return leg in Zagreb is totally different.
Just my thoughts on this matter, I can’t let blatant cheating tarnish these football legends just like the fix with VR for France.
I called VR being used as weapon during the group stage. I knew it would be used in the knockout stage or final as a deciding factor.
At least Allan Shearer shared the same thoughts.
I would disagree with your comments about the Belgrade match, 0 – 0 score line was a fair result and if anything, Yugoslavia had the better opportunities to score hitting the post in the first half.
We stuffed up in Zagreb and had VAR been available it might have been different. In the first half if I recall correctly Boksic or Suker had a shot that went over the goal line before the goalkeeper got to it, but the Spanish officials did not see it.
Yugoslavia in the first half had a player sent off for grabbing Robert Jarni by the balls. Unfortunately, our goalkeeper Ladic did not have a good match and was at fault for both goals in the first half. With scores 2 – 2 and 10 – 15 minutes left? Davor Suker missed a sitter directly in front, which in the end proved costly.
I didn’t watch the first match in BG but I heard that we hit the post.
Second game we had our first goal erroneously called back. Instant replay showed that it crossed the line before their Crnogorac Hrvat goalkeeper (Kralj) saved it.
Igor Tudor was at fault for ducking on a lob that went into the box which bounced off his back and over Ladić.
Two stupid goals given up, a. big mistake by the ref, and the team of Crnogorci pulls off the draw on us.
No, I watched the match, and they hit the post at the start of the match.
Agreed, but Modric is definitely better than Raketic. I don’t think the two compare personally, but people are free to argue that if they wish.
We need to develop the younger talent put players like Majer or Sucic on the frey to give them opportunities even as substitutes they offer plenty of options for us.
Also majer will extend his stay at Rennes until 2027
So why do they sign these extensions when they will most likely sell off anyway soon?
Is it just a negotiating tool by the team to increase the value and not have the guy leave for free more or less like a free agent in hockey?
That’s exactly what it is.
I’m sure there is a verbal agreement between Rennes and Majer that they will sell him to a bigger club in the summer.
But the contract ensures that teams offer Rennes more money for Majer in a transfer (instead of trying to lowball them due to his contract status), and Majer gets immediate financial security (with a long term contract) in case he ever blows his knees.
Modric did the same thing with Tottenham, but Levy has no honor, so he reneged on their verbal agreement and tried to keep Modric against his will.
Like a fine bottle luka gets better with age
You really bottled that metaphor suba 🤔
Is Ivan Rakitic the most underrated nogometaš of all time?
He played lights out in 2018.
He chose HNS over Switzerland when we were mediocre at best.
Happened to play a similar role the greatest nogometaš of all time.
I enjoy watching farca struggle since that took a crap on him.
Croatia @ Italy, Modric gets injured early in the game, Rakitic takes over, every time Italy got the ball, Rakitic took it back, Croatia completely outplayed Italy until the fan disturbances late in said game.
Rakitic played at least as well as Modric in the ’18 WC, half the team went to congratulate Rakitic after the Argentina game for his virtuoso performance, the other half Modric.
And did you have any doubt Rakatic would score the winning goal in the penalty shootouts?
And in Rakitic’s 1st season w/ Barcelona he scored in the Champs League final but should have had 2 goals and an assist in that game if it were not for “Count Dracula”. Not to mention all the times he was subbed out when he was playing well – I even remember the commentators basically asking: “WTF are they taking him out for?” – more than once.
All of our star World Cup players were underrated for the majority of their careers.
That foursome (Modric, Rakitic, Perisic, and Mandzukic) were equally responsible for our WC2018 performance….and other than Modric (who got his recognition very late in his career) the other three still haven’t gotten the recognition they deserve for their illustrious careers.
However, all the pundits who know what they are talking about, always rave about how good Mandzo, Raketa and Perisic are.
Love Raketa!!!
He should still be playing for us!
Would love to have him on the team in Qatar. Adds so many intangibles.
Also has anyone else noticed that Jakic has been playing central defender for Frankfurt lately…what’s up with that?
Bog i Hrvati
Yeah, I noticed that as well. As far as I’m concerned, that’s a great development. Our midfield depth is well known, he was never going to see the pitch there. Any depth to our defence is more than welcome. Let’s see how this develops. It’s not unheard of for a defensive midfielder to switch positions.
Since Eintract Frankfurt has been playing in the Champions League, there has been some squad rotation going on as well as there has been a few injuries to the squad. Frankfurt also has quite a bit of depth at defensive midfield. Jakic has been has been playing right back when they have been playing with a back four and right centre back when Frankfurt plays with a back three.