With the fate of the group on the line, Italy and Croatia took the field at Leipzig Stadium on Monday.
After a seesaw first-half Croatia opened the scoring in the 55th minute. Davide Frattesi’s handball led to a penalty after a VAR check. Modric, one of the coolest takers around saw his shot saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma.
But within a minute, Modric found himself on the end of a parried save and made no mistake to give the Croats the lead.
In the 80th minute, Modric was subbed off and he started his long wait in the dugout to the end of the game. With nine minutes left from regulation time, Luciano Spalletti threw the kitchen sink at it and then some more.
97:05 minutes on the clock. A nervous Luka Modric was clutching his shirt with his teeth. With only a minute to go from the end of the match against Italy, the Croatians were leading 1-0, and Modric looked set for another knockout-round appearance.
Minute 97:49 and Luka Modric was leaning on the seat in the dugout, Italy had equalized through Mattia Zaccagni. After new-gen Nesta, Ricardo Calafiori drove through the cluster of Red and White stripes to find Zaccagni right at the edge of the box, who curled in his right-footed shot over Dominik Livakovic’s head.
Modric’s goal was cancelled out, the goal that made him the oldest player ever to score in Euros. Zaccagni was one of the two changes Spalletti made as a last-ditch effort for salvation. The move paid dividends and Italy’s qualification to the next round was secured with Croatia on the brink of elimination.
Overwhelmed by sorrow, Modric had nowhere to look. He somehow dragged his devastated mind and body to the post-match presentation where he held the Man Of The Match award. The picture of his shirtless body, depressed eyes and blonde locks coming down to his neck surfaced on social media and someone found the most eerie of similarities.
Christ as the Man of Sorrows, by The Master of Sankt Kathrein, 1475, 📸 by Boris Streubel pic.twitter.com/GS2JofzSjb
— ArtButMakeItSports (@ArtButSports) June 25, 2024
Modric in the picture looked just like Jesus Christ from a picture painted in 1475 by The Master of the Winzendorf Death of the Virgin, also known as The Master of Sankt Kathrein.
In the picture, both Modric and Christ strike a similar pose, so similar that someone can easily crop the MOTM trophy in between Jesus’ hands. Modric looked like a living painting. Matching long hair, facial hair, lean figure with a hint of skeletal structure, and even the left hand and the veins matched on the biceps.
Modric and his sorrow tangled him in a knot with the mediaeval painting. The sadness of Jesus before his crucifixion was not for his bitter end but for mankind who diverted from their path.
The cut on the right side of Christ’s midriff was not visible in Modric but it was deep in his heart, cut by that Zaccagni equaliser.
According to Sotheby’s auction house, the painting’s current market value is around £40k-60k. But that’s not the point. The bigger scenario is that this picture of Modric can be the last for Modric on the international stage.