Luka Modrić

Croatia · La Liga · MF · CRO · age 41

Luka Modrić driving forward with the ball in Croatia's blue shirt, number 10.
Photo Fanny Schertzer / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0

The last dance

From a childhood of war to one last tournament

Luka Modrić learned football as a refugee. His earliest years were spent displaced by the Croatian War of Independence, his grandfather killed in the conflict, the family forced from their home. The boy who kicked a ball around a hotel car park in Zadar grew into the midfielder who, in 2018, broke the grip Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo had held on the Ballon d'Or for a decade.

That same summer he dragged Croatia, a nation of under four million, all the way to a World Cup final. Four years later he led them to a semi-final and a bronze medal at 37. Now 40, with 196 caps, a Real Madrid legend playing out his club days at Milan, he is the heartbeat of the most successful generation his country has ever produced.

He is listed as recovering from a fractured cheekbone and is not yet in the projected eleven — but writing Modrić off has rarely ended well for anyone who has tried. One more tournament with the checkerboard on his chest would be the closing of an extraordinary circle.

2026 World Cup squad profile

Position
MF
Squad role
Projected starter
Position rank
#3
Intl caps
196
Intl goals
28
Intl assists
31
0.52(model rating, 0–1)
1.5%

See Luka Modrić on the full Croatia scoring list →

Recent form

Cooling

2025/26 club form vs the player's multi-season baseline (0.08 vs 0.21).

Major tournament stats

TournamentMPMinGAxGShKPPrgPPrgCTklInt
Euro 20243242101.453543711
World Cup 20227673000.366151102717
Euro 20204393110.135754828
World Cup 20187720211.8101715211737
All tournaments212,028423.624314323041333
Event data from StatsBomb open data, covering the World Cup, Euro, Copa América and AFCON finals. Small per-tournament samples. Totals shown, not per-90 rates.
▸How to read this table— 11 columns explained
MP
Matches played in the tournament.
Min
Total minutes on the pitch.
G
Goals scored (penalties in normal play included; shootouts excluded).
A
Assists: passes that directly led to a goal.
xG
Expected goals: summed per-shot quality (StatsBomb's model).
Sh
Shots taken.
KP
Key passes: passes that led to a shot.
PrgP
Progressive passes: completed passes moving the ball ≥10m toward goal.
PrgC
Progressive carries: carries advancing ≥5m toward goal.
Tkl
Tackles won.
Int
Interceptions.

Tournament scouting radar

Defending

Tackles won / 90
0.58
22
Interceptions / 90
1.46
88
Ball recoveries / 90
5.55
84
Blocks / 90
0.80
4
Clearances / 90
0.13
9
Pressures / 90
16.02
46

Passing & progression

Prog. passes / 90
19.17
99
Key passes / 90
1.38
83
Prog. carries / 90
13.49
96
Pass completion %
83.9%
47

Possession

Carries / 90
58.00
96
Dribbles / 90
1.38
81

Per-90 rates from major-tournament event data (StatsBomb), ranked vs 102 midfielders with ≥270 minutes in the same finals. Higher = better.

398
Career matches
30,634
Career minutes
34
Goals
59
Assists
12.4
xG

Career percentiles

Goals / 90
0.10
43
xG / 90
0.04
54
xAG / 90
0.07
71

vs 355 MF players with ≥3,000 career minutes in the dataset. Higher = better.

Career: goals & xG by season

GoalsxG
Career goals and xG by season, 14 seasons from 2009-10 to 2022-23, 34 total goals, 12.4 total xG.Career goals and xG by season, 14 seasons from 2009-10 to 2022-23, 34 total goals, 12.4 total xG.013451011121314151617181920212223

Season-by-season

SeasonClubLeagueGoalsAssists
2009-10TottenhamPremier League251,91033——
2010-11TottenhamPremier League322,79332——
2011-12TottenhamPremier League363,21444——
2012-13Real MadridLa Liga332,17933——
2013-14Real MadridLa Liga342,63916——
2014-15Real MadridLa Liga161,29013——
2015-16Real MadridLa Liga322,61924——
2016-17Real MadridLa Liga251,88712——
2017-18Real MadridLa Liga261,970161.84.2
2018-19Real MadridLa Liga342,608362.73.8
2019-20Real MadridLa Liga311,996371.53.3
2020-21Real MadridLa Liga352,733532.34.6
2021-22Real MadridLa Liga282,032282.55.2
2022-23Real MadridLa Liga11764221.62.4
FBref data ≤ 2022-23. Rows tagged wiki are top-scorer entries from Wikipedia and only carry goals.
▸How to read this table— 6 columns explained
MP
Matches played in that season (start or sub counts as one).
Mins
Total minutes on the pitch — better signal for workload than MP alone.
Goals
Goals scored (penalties included).
Assists
Passes that directly led to a goal (FBref attribution).
xG
Expected goals — per-shot quality scored 0–1 by distance / angle / pressure, summed across the season.
xAG
Expected assisted goals — the xG of shots created by this player's passes, summed.
FBref data ends 2022-23; current-season rows tagged wiki come from Wikipedia top-scorer tables and carry only goals.

Rest of the Croatia squad