September 29, 2019 - Luka Modric returned to the pitch on Saturday after a muscle injury and helped Real Madrid earn a valuable point against city rival Atletico Madrid. But the result is not the only thing the media wrote about.

Index.hr and Gol.hr report that Luka Modric has been absent from the pitch for the last few weeks after a muscle injury surfaced once the international break with Croatia ended earlier this month. Recall, Croatia met Slovakia and Azerbaijan in the Euro 2020 qualifiers from September 6 to 9.

Fortunately, Luka’s injury was anything but major, and the Croatia captain recovered in time for the Madrid derby. Namely, coach Zinedine Zidane sent Modric onto the pitch for the last 25 minutes in the big derby against Atletico Madrid, which was held as part of the 7th round of La Liga. Modric missed the previous four games due to his muscle injury.

The match ended 0:0, with the slight dominance of Atletico, but also the significant inaccuracy of its players, who failed to get any dangerous shots into the goal. On the other hand, Real was very close to scoring on two occasions, but Jan Oblak reacted both times miraculously. The Croatia captain significantly improved Real’s game and showed just how crucial he is to Zinedine Zidane's line-up.

But outside of the game itself, one small detail caught the eyes of Luka Modric, Real Madrid, and football fans around the world on Saturday - Luka’s little-known pregame ritual. 

Namely, before Luka entered the match as a substitute, the camera caught Zidane's assistant and Luka sitting on the bench to go over tactics. Before Luka put on his shin pads, which adorn photographs of his wife, three children, and Jesus Christ, he kissed each photo (which you could see in the photo above). Afterward, Luka strapped the pad on his leg and covered it with his sock.

Screenshot

Madrid portal AS dedicated a short text and video to the moment entitled: "Unknown detail of Luka Modric's ritual in preparation for the match.”

The author of the text wrote that because we rarely see Modric enter the match from the bench, we are unaware of his pregame rituals, which he most likely performs in the dressing room where the cameras are not allowed. 

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