Luka Modric, the Real Madrid and Croatia midfielder, spoke in an interview with France Football about how he received the news he had won the Ballon D’or for 2018. The Croatian was very nervous when the French media outlet told him he had won the Ballon d’Or.
The man who ended Cristiano Ronaldo and Leo Messi’s Ballon D’or dominance was in a hotel in London when he received the news: “I was in the room with my wife and I saw the call, but I did not answer.”
“I told my wife that the head of ‘France Football’ had called me. ‘What should I do?, I asked,” he reveals in an interview given to ‘France Football’ and published the day after the list of nominees was announced for the 2019 award, in which he is not on the list.
Modric tried to keep his calm and was waiting for various minutes thinking about what his response would be when he finally spoke to him. “I was very nervous and I did not want to rush to ring him back. I prepared the response I was going to give. I later called and they said I had won.”
“It was an unbelievable feeling and I started crying. It was a marvelous moment. I’ll never forget it. I wasn’t 100% sure what was happening,” the Croat added. Modric helped Real Madrid lift the Champions League and helped Croatia reach the final of the World Cup.
