Both Luka Modrić and Ivan Rakitić came off the bench late in the 2nd half for their respective clubs in Real Madrid’s 2-0 El Clasico victory Sunday over Barcelona. Modrić came on in the 79th and Rakitić came on in the 81st in minimal roles with Real already up 1-0. Madrid would score an injury time insurance goal which ensured the win and a 1-point lead lead ahead of Barca with 12 matches remaining in the La Liga season. Both sides have do-or-die Champions League Round of 16 matches coming up in the next 18 days which could have overshadowed Modrić, especially, starting on the bench.
Dejan Lovren got the rare start for Liverpool Saturday as the Reds lost their first Premiership match in over a year to Watford; 3-0. Liverpool may have taken their foot off the pedal and looked ahead to their CL 2nd leg match against Atletico Madrid March 11th; down 1-0.
Mario Pašalić assisted twice in Atalanta’s 7-2 thumping over Lecce. Nikola Kalinić came back from the dead with two goals for Roma in their 4-3 win over Cagliari. Is there any chance he gets back into the Croatian squad under Dalić? No chance.
From Pot 1, playing the Netherlands would be fun.
I’m always down for us playing any team in Pot 2.
Easiest team in Pot 3 will be BiH.
BiH is fool’s gold. That team is on a serious decline now. They had their “golden generation” with a prime Džeko and Pjanić (with some solid role players around them) for several years, and they only have one tournament to show for it.
Let’s get Netherlands-France-Bosnia-Cro
The draw for the next edition of the Nations League is tomorrow, while there is less at stake in terms of the playoff security the games will still be somewhat important for FIFA Rankings so Croatia can hold onto Pot 1 for the WCQ draw. With UEFA reformatting the competition, Croatia stays in League A but will be in Pot 4 along with the three other teams who finished bottom of their group in the first edition. There will be four groups of four teams with the group winners playing in the Final Four in March 2021, the bottom team gets relegated to League B. These matches will take place in September, October and November 2020, possibly a new generation of players post-Euro and maybe even a new manager
Pot 1: Portugal, Netherlands, England, Switzerland
Pot 2: Belgium, France, Spain, Italy
Pot 3: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ukraine, Denmark, Sweden
Pot 4: Croatia, Poland, Germany, Iceland
Rebic should do the Kalinic on AC Milan and just show up whenever he wants. Boban was disrespected. Rebic should just chill on the bench and let AC die.
@ BZ
Well said.
The indomitable Hrvat lives!!
Milan is going young and sell as a profit model.
They will make some money but ain’t winning Serie A and will get bum rushed in the Europe.
Between Corona Virus and this Gazidick curious to see how the rest of the season goes?
They were up against it as is now with lame duck Sporting staff who the fuck knows?
Rebic will go wherever he can get the most $. If it’s AC Milan then he will stay.
Rebic will not give ACMilan the benefit of the doubt if they don’t produce the cash. The media skewered him, the fans booed him, the coaches shunned him…BUT ALAS you can’t keep a great man down.
Ya Rebić needs to get out of there
He will make what he will make at another club and can’t be disrespecting boban like that
Rebić could prob do well in England with his physical type play
http://sempremilan.com/di-marzio-rangnick-to-milan-all-agreed-boban-maldini-and-massara-set-to-leave
Rebić should go buck wild this June and find a new spot.
Boban needs to let Milan go and find a new outlet where he can support the next generation of Croatian footballers.
https://apple.news/AvTCd1sb4SWu3xpDn-qdKHQ
World class engineer!!
Mate Rimac
Modrić still has IT.
Modric and Rakitic should both go to Serie A.
Modric is because he is too old and Rakitic because Barca has moved on.
You should capitalize names and titles.
Have some fucken pride that comes from your heart .
Za Dom
=U=
Bog I Hrv
sorry gospodin poglavnik,
but ….. my update was “actually” after he scored the first.
live update, brate.
>>>>Poglavnik says:
Actually he scored 2.
I’d select him and put him on the bench. See how that goes.
Another Croatian talent to keep your eye on is Toma Basic. He’s now a starter for Bordeaux at 23.
The past 4 games he’s been in excellent form, scoring or assisting in each of them.
Marko Rog came back and started for Calgiari after being injured. He was solid today vs. Roma, he made good decisions and was full of energy.
Rakitic is slow but he is strong athlete with a powerful range on his passes.
His game will age well especially now that he is taking a sabbatical season.
Farca ??
Zero intelligence in the midfield.
Rakitic absence was felt by Messi.
I don’t mind Modrić playing a lesser role as he saves his legs for June.
Croats are technically very gifted. We’re the Brazilians of Europe. These skills do not diminish, even when you are well into your 30s.
Rakitić, for example, is already slow and unathletic. What difference does it make on his game if he’s older? Probably not much. He’s 32, has a TON of mileage, and could still realistically start on a World Cup finalist squad.
Now if you are a disciplined Croatian player like Modrić, who stays in shape throughout his 30s (and doesn’t smoke two packs of cigarettes per day like Žuti did), then you’ll have a player capable of playing into his late 30s.
I think everyone performs better mentally after many years of experience.
You could argue that Croatian players benefit the most from it because their game is not hindered by the physical breakdown that older age causes.
Vrsajlko on the bench for the Atletico draw against the bottom of the table Espanyol. Atletico Madrid, their fans and their whole management are big losers.
Rakitic was plan C for Barca. The loss suits them well.
^^^^This only makes sense if by ” business” ,you mean -right hand.
There is a theory that Croatians perform better Late because their true advantage is not physical but mental. They can reach a higher mental level of play than others in terms of read, reaction time, feel but they can only reach those levels through processing that data for some time at the highest level
I don’t know if it’s true. Its what some say. Back in the day, I’d have my quants run some analysis for fun but business has been so busy lately not much time for fun
I expect Brekalo to take a huge step forward in his mid-20 and become a superstar.
I think Vlasic will be the same. He’ll stay in Russia for at least a couple more years, then a huge transfer back to England.
We’re in good hands for the future.
Prso, Rakitic, Kovac bros, Lovren, Brozovic, Petkovic, Rebic, Pasalic, Vida, …none of these guys were doing anything until they hit their mid-20s and surprised people. I mean, Rakitic and Lovren were highly touted as youth players, but they hit a bad plateau, then suddenly took a huge step up. In a similar case, I wouldn’t be surprised if Mateo Kovacic gets significantly better as he approaches 30.
All Croats are late bloomers, in every sport.
Modric is better in his 30s than his 20s.
Miocic seemed like a bum fighter in his 20s, and inexplicably got so much better throughout his 30s.
Nobody thought Bogdanovic would be a potential NBA All-Star either with the way his career started, but now at age 30 it’s actually possible.
.
@Soul Champ- I feel bad giving Brekalo a hard time (partly in jest) because I was right there with you 2 years ago (while he was still at Stuttgart) saying he is undeniably a NT member.
That said, I am at a loss as to how such a talent can fall thru the cracks as much as he has these past 2 years.
He will produce for us, our stars create so much space for eachother.
@Pog-i will turn it on after 65mins when both anemic teams resort to their true Croatian captains.
@vuki-I prefer alo-ing.
Modric and Rakitic warming the bench for El Clasico. Fuck I don’t even want to watch this shit..
Actually he scored 2.
I’d select him and put him on the bench. See how that goes.
Kalinic (who?) scores for Roma, 1-1 still first half.
Btw with this “Brekalo-ing” thing. I would like to say that I prefer just “Brek-ing.” That is all.
Pretty much sums up the situation for Boban and Rebić.
http://www.milanobsession.com/2020/03/sacrilege.html
@ BZ
Brekalo was dribbling at will against England.
Not sure what level VFL is at or what exactly goes on there in regards to how they view Brekalo?
His talent is an added dimension to our offense. He will not be asked to carry us. Just express your game in the final third.
His breakthrough is coming.
Boban leaves AC Milan over this Gazidis/Rangnick thing means Rebić should not sign transfer deal.
Ask to go back to Frankfurt or find new club transfer opportunity.
Elliot group don’t care about Milan and the Rangnick model means big profit on young player sales. Rebić is too old for that model.
His stock will rise again this Euro.
Lovren will get premiership medal and find a new club and have a great Euro for us.
All in for Athletico to knock out LFC in CL.
LFC was tired and took a night off for Lovren.
Media can puši kurac.
Actually Lovren played well earlier in the season when he got regular minutes before injury.
It’s already March.
Rather him be healthy for us.
Corona Virus going to kill our March friendlies?
Our veterans shouldn’t have been called up but wanted to see some young core combinations.
I expect another decent showing from Brekalo tomorrow. He is playing another weak team, and we can all see he excels against weak opponents.
Brekalo-ing the CroatianSports forum! This kid drums up more activity for this site than our dearly beloved Ziva!
@Iggy-if Euros were held after the 2020 US elections, I’d say 0% but that is not the case.
What are the chances of Euro 2020 being no fans due to Coronavirus or worse even called off?
Lots of matches already heavily affected / cancelled, ie:
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/51673076
Hali has been toying with us,
The God of Halilovic will appear.
Not exactly I think the premier league is good for Kova
It will toughen him up he needs it
Liverpool fans and English media are the worst.
No Croat should play in the EPL
Over rated league with horrible officiating
Halilovic got the start after scoring a wonder goal last week. He was outstanding today against Twente, being involved in 2 of his club’s goals.
Hopefully this is a sign of things to come..
@Kruno
It’s ok. This is better for us anyway.
Lovren has been playing regularly enough to keep himself fit, but not often enough to pick up injuries or be exhausted come the Euros.
He will be fresh for us, and who gives a rats ass about Liverpool’s season. He will get a transfer to another team in the summer.
Salah gets a 5 and he was a fucking ghost.
What do their stars have to do to get a below average rating?
Well said Kruno however Lovren would still like to hang to collect the premiership
And then move on to Italy I suspect
^ those espn guys are comedy. i rarely read em.
ESPN.com gave Lovren a 3/10 (lowest on the team) which is a load of crap. These writers are morons with a herd mentality. It’s fashionable to trash Lovren so the American columnist will follow. Lovren was on his man for the first goal—not his fault. Second goal would have been offside of Van Dijk stepped up about 1-foot to put the man beside him offside. On the third goal, Alexander-Arnold gifts the goal to Watford and he even gets a better rating than Lovren. Anyway. I would prefer that Lovren had some dignity and left to actually PLAY some regular soccer instead of collecting the Liverpool paycheque. However, he shouldn’t be trashed needlessly after not playing for ages while his teammates get regular minutes and play shit.
I also updated the stats spreadsheet this morning for anyone interested:
https://www.reddit.com/r/SoccerCRO/comments/csikns/youngnot_established_croatian_footballers/
It’s the return of the young player of the week! Lots of good performances from our younger players this week. Scroll down to the bottom or use the outline on the left to see the most recent week.
https://www.reddit.com/r/SoccerCRO/comments/cxqsge/croatian_young_player_of_the_week_thread/