Sport

Luka Modrić Wins UEFA Player of the Year, Best Midfielder of Champions League

By 30 August 2018

Another incredible achievement for Croatia's best footballer. 

The captain of the Croatia national football team and Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modrić was declared the UEFA 'Men's Player of the Year’! Luka also won the award for the ‘Best Midfielder of Champions League’ in the 2017/18 season, reports Index.hr on August 30, 2018. 

Modrić was elected by the voices of 55 journalists from each UEFA member state, plus 80 coaches of clubs who played in the Champions League and Europa League last year. 

Last year, Luka finished in fourth behind Ronaldo, Messi and Buffon for the player of the year. 

Since Modrić has been in Spain, he has won 14 trophies with Real Madrid, including four Champions League titles, the Copa del Rey, four European Super Cups, three Club World Cups and two Spanish Super Cups. The last time the team lost in a final was in 2013 in the Copa del Rey against Atletico Madrid.

Modrić has been chosen as part of the ‘best 11’ in 2015 by FIFA and FIFPro. He is the second ‘Eastern European’ player who has entered the FIFPro World XI, the best team in the world. Modrić has thus been named the best midfielder of the Champions League in 2017 & 2018, and was a member of the best Champions League team in 2013/14, 2015/16, 2016/17, and 2017/18. He was named the best player of the Club World Cup in 2017 and made the FIFA Team of the Year in 2015, 2016 and 2017.

Luka’s national team career isn’t too shabby either, as he was selected the best Croatian player seven times, was named on the best team of the World Cup in Russia, and received the Golden Ball at the 2018 World Cup. 

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