CROATIAN DOMINANCE IN THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE IS STILL ALIVE!
Luka Modrić and Real Madrid are the 2022 Champions League winners! Los Blancos defeated Liverpool 1-0 to lift their 14th UCL cup, and the fifth for 36 year-old Luka Modrić. A Croatian has now won the Champions League in each of the last 10 seasons – pure dominance.
Modrić now has more Champions League titles than Xavi, Iniesta, Zidane, Pirlo, and Matthaus. The true midfield GOAT.
@ Maminjo
Thank you for the clear and factual TRUTH.
I remember the days when CSR first came out and only Srna, with Shaktar in the knock out stages, was our only representation.
10 years in a row we lift the trophy and we are all over champions league participation.
There is a correlation with champions league participation that leads to competitive greatness. Ask Liverpool what Real Madrid is all about TWICE!!
Our nogometaši come to the repka ready to win trophies.
Perišić is making a move to Spurs because he is a big game player and Conte knows it.
No accident that our goal keeper and striker positions have ZERO champions league experience. And are our glaring holes.
You see Courtois as the #1 keeper in the world because he produces in the biggest matches.
MANdzukic has not been replaced, our last CL level striker.
I believe in Budimir and Musa to give us something up top. Good news is we don’t need a world class #9, just a bit of quality.
Ivusec needs can be solid but could you imagine if we had an Oblak?
Livakovic is the extreme example on the other end of the spectrum being a shaky keeper on a HNL level no less.
All good.
I want to see YOUNG and HUNGRY legs this Friday.
If I see June disinterested nogometaši there will be a problem.
These young guys should be competing for their places. Like that C team in LA vs Mexico.
Mandzo scored in the Champions League final when they won (he also scored one for Juve when they lost to Real that one year too). Rakitic scored for Barca when they won. Modric was integral to all five Champions League runs for Madrid.
Perisic was an excellent player for Bayern and, yes, he did feature in the Champions League finals when they won it (and he scored a few goals for them in the knockout phases).
Kovacic also did feature in the final…but as a later substitute. But he was a starter in the entire Champions League run for them. Started almost every game.
So, you have 10 years with a Croat on the winning squad…and 9 of those years, they play a critical role for them.
Is there any country in the world with the same stat?
Having a decade-long streak AND having the players be a key member of that run?
Most people would simply take having a first-team player…but to have goalscorers and star players making up the majority?
Scary thing is that we’ve had quite a few moments where BOTH finals teams had Croats on them.
Only Brazil shares this stat with us…but even Brazil relied on a couple of bench players to maintain their streak (i.e. Coutinho for Bayern in 2020).
France didn’t have a player on Liverpool when they won in 2019, so not even the mighty France can claim this streak.
I don’t think any other nation had a Champions League finals winning player in each of the past 10 years.
Just Croatia and Brazil…with Croatia having more key players in their team’s run.
Simply astonishing.
My Super Nintendo statistical analysis confirms maminjo this correct
Now if you will excuse me I have some work to do on Twitter, which I have yet to fully embrace
Just an article to further your point.
https://www.croatiaweek.com/eu-stats-reveal-why-croatias-phenomenal-sporting-success-is-remarkable/
German Bild magazine names Croatia the best sporting Nation!
A statistician would look at this croatia champions league run and not really attribute it to Croatians. Instead you have an outlier in Modric responsible for half the ten. Modric is good, no surprise but he is so good he is actually not representative of Croatia. Amongst the remaining 5 champions leagues wins, 2 came nearly a decade ago in mandzukic and rakitic and the other 3 the Croats did not feature (lovren, perisic, kovacic)… so if you look at this champions league run, it seems much more flukey than expected future result
You fucking idiot. Stats are stats.
Hey truth, some free advice from a Stari Hrvat…
Kad šutiš, drugi samo misliju da si bedak, a kad otvoriš usta i nešto rečeš, pa onda sigurno znaju da si bedak
Bog i Hrvati
Not to be as direct as Eric below, but it in fact is a stat. Read the German Bild magazine article I posted above. It is from a non biased source. What everyone is remarking on is that, unlike many other nations, Croatians have a passion that is simply different. This what carries the country forward in sports, and allows Croatians to Excell, it’s not just soccer but also tennis first their was Goran Ivanisevic, now their is a Croatian Tennis Duo creating a storm, there was also Majoli female star tennis player from before. Then there is Water Polo, Handball, Soccer, Olympics, Drazan Petrovic in Basketball in the late 80s early 90s. Then there is Joe Sakic an American Croat Hockey Player, Frank Mahavlovic a Croatian Canadian hockey player in the 50 to 70s. Stipe Miocic, Elvis Sinosic, Pat Miletic, Mirko Filipovic all Croatian Fighters. Georger Cuvalo Croatian boxer. List goes on and on. It’s not based on an emotion. Croatians, unfortunately myself not included (lol), are typically built for sports. I’m like 5’9″, that is not average for a Croat they are usually well over 6′ tall, especially in areas of Dalmacija, Zagreb, Slavonija, Zadar, other regions. Croatians are bred for sports it’s the typical archetype but this time it actually fits.
Trying modric to that goal a bit of stretch. That looks like a hockey assist squared
Also the ten in a row thing is questionable. If you look at the past three years lovren, perisic, kovacic played bit roles and didn’t even play in the final
LOL.
Yes, because it means nothing unless a country of 3.9 million has not only at least one Champions League winning player in the first team (of every winner for the past decade)…but they have to be MVP of every game throughout the entire run.
No it has to do with overall success in sports in general Maminjo. Boxing, MMA, Hockey, Soccer, Olympics, Basketball. As mentioned in the comment above, a list of names if you will:
Goran Ivanisevic
Drazan Petrovic
Iva Majoli
George Cuvalo
Mirko Filipovic
Elvis Sinosic
Stipe Miocic
Frank Mahavlovic
Joe Sakic
Petra Matric
Janice and Ivica Kostelic
….
All kinds of sports where Croatians Excell….when you pair that with fact that it’s a country of 3.9 million than now your talking some credibility to the argument. What other country can achieve on that level with those demographics???
Can you provide one…?? Maybe you can I am willing to hear it out??? It’s not just team Croatia in soccer…do your research first buddy!!!
I think the 10-in-a-row thing is probably based on fact, not speculation, not splitting hairs and crunching numbers. But fact is not a world you embrace, as we know. • And if you don’t think that Modric turn/pass kickstarted that goal yesterday, well, “on brand” for you as they say.
Perisic I think did, the other two definitely not. Even Lewy was upset when they traded Perisic out of Bayern. He did a lot on the wing, and to be honest I used to think Perisic didn’t do a lot in 2018, but he did, he nearly ended two of the games that went to overtime. He had the same kinda presence for Bayern, sure he didn’t score a thousand goals but he definitely contributed.
Soon to be 37, wearing the #10 shirt, wins La Liga and runs through PSG, Chelsea, Man City, Liverpool to win a 5th CL?!
Yet another chapter written.
I am glad to see Real Modrić be complete.
Let him train with Real Madrid and play his part as he gets ready for Qatar.
Let him play limited minutes to start the Real Madrid ‘22-‘23 season.
Ancelotti is a genius.
Not sure if I would go with Modrić or Kroos.
They are too similar and need more young legs in the middle.
Alternate them to have their intelligence and experience pulling the strings.
Rodrygo on the right wing is ready.
Valverde in the middle.
Casemiro is still our #6.
Camavinga looks the goods.
Rudiger will provide extra presence on the back line.
Add a back up striker and this team is ready to go for 15 next season.
T – 5 days till we see the next generation against Austria in Osijek.
I want to see all these young boys inspired to be champions.
managingmadrid.com:
Luka Modric—8.5: After a tense opening 20 minutes for Real Madrid, Luka Modric began to move into deeper positions to get on the ball and help the team break through Liverpool’s press. Produced a fantastic reverse vertical pass to help set up the first and only goal of the game
The one and only lukica.
It goes to show all you need i a top keeper to get a result in football and a goal haha. Just think greece 2004 nikopolidis. 2002 khan brought poor germany to finals. 1998 barthez and ladic. Just some names.
We all know on this site with livakovic only a miracle can make hime a great keeper. Courtois stole the game for real yesterday motm.
Friday starts league nations. V austrija dalic probably puts a mixed team. And v france if healthy and only no perisic will get an 11 that will probably be 80% what opens vs morocco.
Modric just signed an extension till June 2023 according to Fabrizio Romano. Great news.
Starts it all:
•
https://twitter.com/WolfRMFC/status/1530674065790627840
The officials were pro Liverpool/EFL. It was disgusting to watch. The better team won anyways.
You surprised? I’m not. Who cares, good guys won 🙂
I wouldn’t say they were pro either side, I think the officiating was done pretty well actually. It wouldn’t make sense to say they preferred a side, because they were mostly French, so technically they would have been routing for Benzema if that was the case. But the officials were pretty fair in my opinion.
Are you retarded?
No I am not actually…what part wasn’t fair officiating?? Benzema’s initial shit was definitely offside, so no questions their. There was no handball that I saw, in my view. Couple of fouls called on either side of the pitch. Seemed pretty fair. What part wasn’t or am I missing something??
Just to clarify just because they didn’t officiate the way you wanted them to doesn’t mean it was done unfairly or that it was not impartial. Referees sometimes make shitty calls, it’s the sport it’s called being human. So I do not think favouritism works as an argument,atleast not in every case. Otherwise you may as well argue that every Dinamo trophy was won in such a way with referee bias, even tho I don’t think that is true either.
There was a Liverpool defender between Benzema and the goal on the VAR play, and the ball touched a defender before Benzema got it. I don’t see at all why it was called offside. The call was even worse than Perisić vs Slovakia.
It was the initial pass where Benzema got the ball I believe, where he ran on that stretch to receive the ball and he was definitely passed the defender. The look on Benzema’s face tells you that he new he was offside, I don’t think you can argue that one.
They definitely were. I’m soooo happy for Luka. Pure class, finally unchallenged and unrivalled.
Modric was fine. Continues to be clever on the ball, hard to dispossess, and always seems to make the right choice
That being said, you could see his age where in a defensive strategy he really was not able to physically exert his presence
Can’t help but look at courteious bail Madrid out over and over again, confidently knock balls out over the middle and actually save shots and you can’t help but think how nice that would be
Anyone catch the pre game on paramount + (on cable in Canada)…had nice segment on Srna and getting out of Ukraine while helping out Ukrainian’s and there families. Pure Class. Courtois MOTM !!! Luka with 5 now amazing!
What a champions league run this year.
Has to be there best one with all the comebacks.
Got outplayed mostly but like a snake they wait to strike
Luka best midfielder in Madrid history
How was luka?
I only listened to it on radio
He was good, not great. RM played a defensive game. Zero shots 1st half.
Yeah Real players were not set up to look “great” today — kind of like the last three rounds — but Luka did the job. Pivo on patio now. Volim piti, volim piti . . .
It was a terrible first half, to be honest Liverpool played the better game. They just didn’t have the quality to find the back of the net. But I am glad that Real won, and that Modric has his 5th title.
Well, the run continues
What a performance by the Real goalkeeper. My goodness.
Imagine if we had a goalie like that eh?
One can only imagine, we would have won the 2018 cup if that was the case!! Just keeps proving how important the goaltender position is, hopefully Dalic was watching this and holds Livakovic accountable this tournament because we cannot afford to have a weak goalie in net.
Ya it’s scary we have to play against him at World Cup
He is out of This world
Anyone share a good free stream?
AJMO !!!!!