Luka Modric scored the game-winning goal as Real Madrid beat Sergio Ramos’ Sevilla by a small margin.

The former captain of Real Madrid played his first game back at the Bernabeu since leaving the club two years ago. For 85 minutes, it looked like he would leave with a clean sheet and a point, but his old friend Modric had other ideas.

The 38-year-old player came on in the 75th minute, and when Ramos cleared Fede Valverde’s cross, the ball fell to the Croatian. His first touch set him up perfectly for a curling shot from the edge of the area that beat Orjan Nyland and gave Real Madrid the lead.

This is almost certainly Modric’s last season with the team, and this goal could be his last in his home stadium. He has only played 12 games this season. That may have been what started the party that followed. As he celebrated, he ran to the North Goal. Antonio Rudiger and his teammates picked him up high so he could fully enjoy the moment.

Sevilla said Rudiger was offside when Valverde crossed the ball, but Ramos wasn’t blocked when he headed the ball clear, so the German defender wasn’t seen to be getting in the way of play.

Madrid had to put in a lot of work to beat Sevilla. In the 10th minute, they thought they had scored, but the goal was called off.

From the left, Vinicius sent a cross that was scored by Lucas Vazquez. Even though Madrid applauded, VAR saw that Nacho had fouled Youssef En-Nesyri and called it a foul. Isidro Díaz, the official, saw that the defender had gone through the back of the Sevilla forward. The foul was clear, so he called the goal out. Carlo Ancelotti was given a yellow card before the judge had even looked at the replay, which made him angry.

Madrid will say that VAR isn’t meant to look at the events leading up to a goal so closely, but they have used it before this season when an Almeria goal was called off because of a foul in the buildup on Jude Bellingham.

The English playmaker wasn’t in the starting eleven. Madrid worked hard but never got anything in return for his runs from deep between Vinicius and Rodrygo.

The game got off to a lively start. En-Nesyri had shot wide from Isaac Romero’s cross before the goal was ruled out. And right after the fight, Lucas Ocampos elbowed Vazquez without getting in trouble.

Toni Kroos went to the bookroom with his coach because he argued with the referee after he called a silly foul on him. The German did nothing but stand his ground, so Djibril Sow bounced off of him. Kroos was warned when he yelled “no!” because it was never a foul.

The game had become rough and angry, but Fede Valverde added some class with a long-range rocket shot that Nyland successfully blocked.

After the break, Madrid played better, but Fede Valverde’s shot from Brahim’s cross hit the post and went off. Andriy Lunin made a great save on Isaac Romero’s shot from two yards out when Sevilla came back. Nyland did a great job of stopping Vinicus on the other end.

Now the game was moving very quickly, and referee Diaz looked like he pulled a muscle in his leg trying to keep up. He was replaced by the fourth judge, and Sevilla’s strong defence kept going. They were so close to going with something, but after Modric scored, they couldn’t answer. Eight minutes of extra time were added.