The last time Croatia played an international tournament, Luka Modric went on to win the Ballon d’Or, becoming the only player since 2007 to beat Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to football’s most prestigious individual award.
He won both the Champions League and Club World Cup with Real Madrid in 2018 but it was his instrumental role in inspiring Croatia to the World Cup final, for which Modric was named player of the tournament, that deemed him better than all the rest.