In 2015 the brilliant football journalist, Barney Ronay, described Luka Modrić as resembling ‘a young boy dressed as a witch’. It’s seven years later and the point still stands, which is to say, Luka Modrić remains a striking looking figure. More pertinently, we’re all still well aware of Luka Modrić. In 2015 we were also well aware of Modrić, so much so that jokes could be made of his appearance and people outside of football would know the context. My point is his longevity. You hear Modrić, you can picture him straight away. You can see his face, but also, I imagine, you can see the way he runs, the way he passes with the outside of his foot whenever he can make it work. The way he has won five champions leagues (that’s a good one to picture). His career has been an unbroken support strut shooting down the length of the past decade and a half.
Following his performance in the 2022 World Cup, the comments praising him began to include gilded phrases people usually hold for the end of a glittering career. Words like ‘truly’ were being placed before compliments, which is when you know football commentators really mean business. These positive remarks are a fine and sparkling gold filigree, a decorative flourish applied to the borders of our shared understanding of what Modrić is and has become; truly, one of the greats.
You can watch a 30 second time-lapse of this artwork being created here.