Luka Modrić came off the bench in the 80th minute Friday night with Real Madrid down 1-0 to Valencia and playing with 10 men due to a Vini red card. Five minutes later, Jude Bellingham would tap the ball to a streaking Modrić in the box who cooly slotted home to make it 1-1. It is Modrić’s first La Liga goal of the season. However, he received a yellow card which means he will miss Real Madrid’s next La Liga match. ManagingMadrid gave Modrić a 8/10 grade as he “Scored the equalizing goal in the 85th minute with a composed finish, becoming the oldest goalscorer in Real Madrid history.”
Mateo Kovačić and Joško Gvardiol both got the start for Manchester City Saturday in a 4-1 victory over West Ham United. Gvardiol played the full 90 minutes while Kova came off in the 61st minute. Gvardiol received a 7/10 grade from Yahoo Sports as “The Croatian was perhaps a bit less active in the attack than we are used to, but some of the mistakes we have seen in the past few weeks did seem to be cleaned up.” Kova received a 6/10 grade from Yahoo “To no fault of his own, Kovacic is a man isolated in the holding midfield role. The veteran midfielder is a true asset with legs around him, but struggled when it was his legs that needed to carry the load.”
Man City sign CB Khusanov
Great that another high-quality CB will be next to Gvardiol (as Akanji and Walker have been poor this year)
Marmoush next
Halilović needs to get a new team. Fortuna has brought him back from irrelevance, and he’s playing really well for them, sometimes even looking like Messi, but the teammates around him are just too poor for him to shine as the player he has become, who is a lot less selfish with the ball. They lose matches from poor defending, they rush their decisions, they fail to finish when in point-blank scoring position…
Imam not too knowledgeable about the story behind Halilović. Can you guys fill me in on what happened there?
For a player who was touted to be the next Midfield star what went wrong? Moreover, how has he faired since then?
Fared since then***
Halilovic was talented but a premadona at 17 who thought he was a star already. Halilovic didn’t have the quickness or speed either for his small stature. Allen has very good technique that’s not enough considering his physical limitations. If Allen had the work ethic of Kova he could have been a good player never elite as he lacked the physical attributes to be a top player.
He’s a lot better now. He actually knows what to do with the ball now, besides just dribbling and shooting. The problem is that he plays on a very weak team.
Any good streams for Real Madrid “supercopa de españa” today?
(please & thank you)
Modric is out for today’s match due to an illness, but may be back on Sunday vs Barca if they win. Its frustrating because I have subscriptions to FUBO, DAZN, TSN, Sportsnet, yet its nowhere in Canada.
Am in Canada also, and watching on ESPN2 via IPTV.
I know that doesn’t help you but….looks like the finals Sunday is on ABC, which would be viewable “up” here.
It will be streaming on here (of course, patience is required to get a good one going) …. https://livetv.sx/enx/
Just saw starting lineups and wasn’t aware Modric illness. I hope they let him stay home?
“It will be streaming” meaning today’s game, too.
Thanks for the info. Luka travelled with the team and woke up feeling sick, flu like symptoms, nothing major. Its too bad because he and Valverde are the only 2 players who played every single game this season.
Are you in the Toronto area? If you are, we should meet up to play some indoor tennis. See if your tennis ability matches your mouth. Let me know and we can make it happen.
Is the Croatian Sports HQ on fire in LA?
San Pedro is unaffected (according to this map).
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/01/08/weather/los-angeles-fire-maps-california.html
They’re right next to Long Beach, and the closest fire is in Palisades.
It is a 30-40 minute drive from San Pedro to Palisades, but I don’t know how fast this fire is spreading.
I don’t think anyone in the greater LA area is unaffected , but structures in San Pedro are fine
What’s that Ned Zelic quote, i bleed red and white checkers lol
https://www.croatiaweek.com/croatian-american-sports-hall-of-fame-announces-2024-inductees/
Some great athletes .Hrvats from all over the midwest ..Ohio Pennsylvania.Minnesota..Roger Maras ..Sakic..etc
Eh Danny j..Back in the day..I remember the magical cro usa canada soccer tourney in Cleveland Ohio croatian park 1984..Cleveland and Chicago had 2 teams each represented…I am.from ontario..I recall a few chartered buses going to ohio that year. ..We were cro offspring from .let’s say 1950 to 1971 immigrant parents ..and we played serious rough style cro soccer.US an CAN cro teams..Us older cros have alot of history with the big tourneys ..oshawa.hamilton .sudbury and.not excluding other citys..Anyways.. Ohio produces tough athletes.. cros like Kelce and Stipe Miocic..no surprise Kelce is hrvat ..been there .. fantastic Croatian community there in Cleveland Ohio.Godbless us hrvats.
Good job to Luka Modric for being an elite athlete at his age. Most of us when we reach his age will need a walker or hip replacement :).
Hopefully, we will start to see more Croatian footballers develop into his elite level soon.
Overall what does everyone think about the state of Croatian athletes. Does it seem we are declining? I know we have talent but do we need to invest in better training camps and scouts?
Modric scores in the 55th minute to make it 4-0 Real in a Copa del Rey game against Deportiva Minera.
“Luca” goal here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rC8XGWnV3p0
Man is he still so good.
I know he probably wasn’t playing high opponent but he does not look just shy of 40
Remember at World Cup 2018 everyone was like…
“well, this is his last tournament, at least he went out with a bang”
Zrinka Ljutic strikes again in Slovenia.
Impressive stuff from the young lady.
https://youtu.be/cF1GfktKMv8?si=dMr3lOgAtumk6tpz
Thrilling victory
I don’t follow skiing… but I like Olympic medals.
Hopefully she becomes a medalist for us one day (and doesn’t defect to Slovenia like Jakov Fak did).
I don’t think she will defect to Slovenia? if she had any plans to do so she would have done it a few years ago when she was a top junior and probably in need of money.
Winning the last two slalom races she has pocketed 100 K Euro according to the media and that should help with the financial side of things for the time being.
How poetic
On Janica Kostelic’s birthday
Zdrinka Ljutic wins again in Kranjska Gora (where Kostelic never won)
She is now TOP of the table after 12 of 35 races
Ante – in “Croatians Around Europe” going forward should be include her upcoming races – think the next one is in St. Anton
***.fis-ski.com/alpine-skiing/news/2024-25/zrinka-ljutic-wins-to-leave-kranjska-gora-as-new-overall-leader
Please let Ante take care of content ideas for croatiansports.com. Of all people, you certainly don’t earn the badge as wisest curator.
How poetic
On Janica Kostelic’s birthday
Zrinka Ljutic does it again at Kranjska Gora (where Kostelic never won)
Ljutic is top of the table after 12 of 35 rounds
***.fis-ski.com/alpine-skiing/news/2024-25/zrinka-ljutic-wins-to-leave-kranjska-gora-as-new-overall-leader
https://www.croatiaweek.com/nfl-legends-travis-and-jason-kelce-reveal-croatian-heritage/
I don’t care about the egg ball or the Taylor swift
But maybe this will boost tourism more this year now lol
Can you say even more over priced sladoled
Unfortunately, I cannot respect someone who puts their face superimposed on a a religious image on a candle and sells it like that. It’s very disrespectful. The same could be said for Argentine fans who do that for Messi. Especially for a culture that your a part of and then seem to not understand how something like that is important to the culture and heritage for both.
I think it’s great that they are Croatian, but maybe they should do some research about it and see what their heritage is about. In my view they have no idea.
Pretty weird that they didn’t know their own grandmother was Croatian until recently…especially since she had such a foreign sounding name.
Not really doing much to kill the dumb jock stereotype.
When I was a kid and said I was Croatian, I had to explain what that meant. Most people had no idea where Croatia is, or that it even existed. It’s amazing how far we have come in such a short amount of time. The Vatreni can take credit for a lot of awareness and interest in Croatia around the world. Now everyone is proud to find out they have Croatian Heritage.
Very well said.
Not only did I have to explain what it was back in the 1980’s and early 90’s, I got into many physical fights defending my Croatian heritage.
Croatian Tennis Federation seems to have an issue retaining players, after Ajla Tomljanovic defects to Aus another young talent Duje Markovina has done the same, also choosing Aus, sad to see !
https://www.nine.com.au/sport/tennis/news-2025-duje-markovina-croatia-australia-poaching-juniors-20250102-p5l1p8.html
Agree sad to see, we don’t have the money to support the young players.
Tennis is an expensive sport with all the travelling to the tournaments, coaching and training expenses it all adds up. If you do not have a rich family, it is very hard for the young players to make it.
I still can’t understand it or relate.
Rich or poor, I couldn’t ever imagine switching.
Ajla was a Zagreb-born, likely liberal Yugo type as her mom is Bosniak.
She also moved to Florida as a teenager, so I could understand why she would defect.
However, this kid is a full Croat from Split (a city with a rich tennis culture) and he’s born and raised there to this day.
I’m hoping this is just a ploy to use Australia, and then he switches back.
Yep. His mum has a Sydney passport and that was enough apparently, very disappointing.
It is sad… when i was a young kid in Aus, i have to say: there werent many athletes who would stand up and say the’yre Croat (over Yugoslav) at that time, but the one shining light was Goran. He was so amazing, i really respected him and what he did for us, in 1992~ etc he was the guy. So yeah it’s sad to see tennis in Croatia in this state, it isnt right.
Absolutely amazing his longevity is, it’s truly legendary.
Kralj! 🙌🏻