Modric and Kroos are the ageless wonders keeping Real Madrid from ushering in a new era
Luka Modric and Toni Kroos are on the wrong side of 30, yet their impressive play is keeping expensive young midfielders out of Real Madrid’s starting XI.
Two old guys sit on a bench and quietly watch the world go by. They’re tired, their bodies ache, but it’s okay: they’re happy.
They’ve done their bit, their work here done, rest well-earned. Let someone else have a go. The kids play in front of them. A pair for as long anyone can remember, always seen together, virtually inseparable, they’ve lived a million battles. So many stories to tell, all those good times. Not that they need tell them, nor say a word: they just know. So they sit in silence. Until, eventually, Toni and Luka get up and go home.
They’ll be back. Not on here, out there.
There’s a lovely photo from Real Madrid’s Champions League win over Liverpool in which Toni Kroos and Luka Modric fall into the bench having just been taken off, coats pulled over their kits, and watch the final minutes. Kroos has ice strapped on his ankle, his socks are down and he is undoing worn boots — the same model he’s been wearing for a decade, even though the manufacturer has stopped making them for anyone else. Alongside him, Modric rests his hands on a bottle. He is slumped and looks empty, like he doesn’t even really see what’s before him, like if it was up to him he wouldn’t move again. But he will.
There’s something almost pure about the picture, understated. Something that says, well, football. There’s a quiet dignity to it: the mud, the grass stains, the almost empty expressions, nothing left, nothing spared. Knowing what they have just done, especially. Knowing who they are, even more so. It’s easy to imagine the conversation consisting of a single exchange:
“That was all right.”
All right? It was bloody brilliant, again. The rest is well-earned. It is also short. The pair are withdrawn, it is true, but not until minutes 82 and 84, once their passage to the next round is secure. And that’s just to waste time, Carlo Ancelotti admits, not because he needed it or because they did. They’re not here to be protected, or looked after; they’re not going to hold back, nor make concessions to age. They’re here to play. Like no one else can. Like they shouldn’t be able to play anymore, or so it goes.
Modric is 37, Kroos is 33. They have played more than 800 Real Madrid games between them. They have just four months left on their contracts, not long. They could stop any time they like, walk away, ease toward the end.
Source : ESPN
