39-year-old midfielder Luka Modric scored the only goal from a direct free kick as Croatia beat Poland 1-0 in the UEFA Nations League.

At home stadium Opus, Osijek on the evening of September 8, Modric played brilliantly. He played the full 90 minutes, touched the ball 136 times, passed accurately 94% with five passes creating opportunities and finishing twice.

In the 7th minute, Modric took a corner kick from the right wing and defender Duje Caleta-Car headed the ball close to the goal but it was not able to beat goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski. In the 21st minute, the Real Madrid player shot hard from outside the box and the ball went wide of the post.

In the 52nd minute, when Croatia was awarded a free kick near the penalty area, Modric shot with his right foot, sending the ball over the wall and into the top corner, forcing goalkeeper Skorupski to fly but still unable to block it. The 39-year-old midfielder ended his goal drought after nine matches in all competitions, helping Croatia earn their first three points in the Nations League this season.

2  SportFootballOther awardsMonday, September 9, 2024, 08:04 (GMT+7)

Modric scores a super free kick, overshadowing Lewandowski

Croatia 39-year-old midfielder Luka Modric scored the only goal from a direct free kick as Croatia beat Poland 1-0 in the UEFA Nations League.

At home stadium Opus, Osijek on the evening of September 8, Modric played brilliantly. He played the full 90 minutes, touched the ball 136 times, passed accurately 94% with five passes creating opportunities and finishing twice.

In the 7th minute, Modric took a corner kick from the right wing and defender Duje Caleta-Car headed the ball close to the goal but it was not able to beat goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski. In the 21st minute, the Real Madrid player shot hard from outside the box and the ball went wide of the post.

In the 52nd minute, when Croatia was awarded a free kick near the penalty area, Modric shot with his right foot, sending the ball over the wall and into the top corner, forcing goalkeeper Skorupski to fly but still unable to block it. The 39-year-old midfielder ended his goal drought after nine matches in all competitions, helping Croatia earn their first three points in the Nations League this season.

This was also the first time in 17 years that Modric scored directly from a free kick. After the match, he told the national television channel NovaTV : “I’m very happy because I finally scored a goal from a free kick myself. I also scored from a kick like this against Slovakia, but that time the ball hit an opponent and changed direction into the net. If I remember correctly, this is the first direct goal I scored from a free kick, since my time at Dinamo Zagreb.”

Modric has played 180 matches for the national team, equal to Spain’s Sergio Ramos, and only behind Cristiano Ronaldo with 214 matches for Portugal. In these 180 matches, Modric scored 27 goals, only behind Eduardo da Silva, Andrej Kramaric (29 goals), Ivan Perisic, Mario Mandzukic (33), Davor Suker (45) in the history of the Croatian national team .

“I couldn’t even dream that I would play for so long. We have to deal with each game, and we can’t think about the future. As long as I don’t feel the fire anymore, I will leave the team. Only I can feel the fire and make that decision,” he said.

Modric celebrates after scoring to help Croatia beat Poland 1-0 in the second round of Group A of the Nations League at the Opus Stadium in Osijek on September 8. Photo: AFP.

Coach Zlatko Dalic also said that Modric had a great match, from running, fighting, passing the ball to scoring, as if he was only 25 years old. He believes that his student will continue to wear the Croatian shirt for a long time if he maintains such high performance. The 57-year-old coach considers the victory the best gift for Modric – who celebrates his 39th birthday today, September 9.

In contrast to Modric, Poland captain Robert Lewandowski was lackluster. The 36-year-old striker played the full 90 minutes, shooting four times, with his biggest impact coming in the 70th minute – when he controlled the ball in the penalty area and then turned and fired a left-footed shot that hit the crossbar. Sofascore gave Modric a 9.3 – the highest score of the match, while Lewandowski received a 6.7.

Coach Roberto Martinez surprisingly benched Cristiano Ronaldo, but the 39-year-old star still shone in time when he entered the field in the second half and scored the decisive goal to help Portugal beat Scotland 2-1 on September 9.

” Ronaldo ‘s current form shows that he is ready to aim for the 2026 World Cup ,” said AS (Spain). The 39-year-old has now scored a total of 6 goals in 6 matches for both club and country, and has 2 assists at the beginning of the 2024-2025 season.

Ronaldo scores regularly and is still an extremely important factor in the Portuguese national team.

Ronaldo’s goals for Portugal in the 2-1 wins over Croatia and Scotland in the UEFA Nations League were also his 900th and 901st career goals.

In addition, these goals also helped Ronaldo increase his national team scoring record to 132 goals after 214 matches. Ronaldo is currently the player with the most goals in the history of the Portuguese team, far surpassing the second-placed Pauleta with 47 goals and the legendary Eusebio with 41 goals.

“Two games, two wins. Thanks for the support, let’s go Portugal!”, Ronaldo wrote on his social media account X (formerly Twitter). This shows that this famous player is still making important contributions to the national team and coach Roberto Martinez was right to keep faith in him.

The special thing about the match where Portugal defeated Scotland at Estadio da Luz in Lisbon was that coach Roberto Martinez surprisingly left Ronaldo on the bench after starting and playing almost the entire 90 minutes in the match against Croatia.

Ronaldo was only brought on at the beginning of the second half to replace Pedro Neto. Before that, the Portuguese team’s attack was led by Rafael Leao and Diogo Jota with Bruno Fernandes supporting the back line.

Portugal team shows they still need Ronaldo

After McTominay unexpectedly opened the score 1-0 for the Scottish team in the 7th minute, it was not until the second half that Ronaldo’s presence helped the Portuguese team’s attack to improve again before Bruno Fernandes equalized 1-1 in the 54th minute. At the end of the match, Ronaldo showed his mettle and importance when he chose the right position to confirm Nuno Mendes’ pass, scoring the decisive goal to bring victory to the home team with a score of 2-1.

“The consecutive goals still show Ronaldo’s importance in the Portuguese team’s play, he is ready to aim for the 2026 World Cup,” AS emphasized . However, Ronaldo has not yet mentioned this possibility, when determining that this is the time to enjoy football and wait and see what happens next.