Messi can’t be expected to do it all on his own, says Modric

Croatia captain and Real Madrid star Luka Modric had a fine game against Argentina as he capped off a 3-0 victory with a wonderful goal in the 80th minute. Modric and midfield partner and Bareclona man Ivan Rakitic were tasked with stopping Argentina’s main man Lionel Messi during the game and they did their job to perfection as the Argentine had a match to forget, getting only 49 touches in the whole match.

Following the match, Modric gave his verdict on Messi, saying that the Argentine had cut a lonely figure and was left without any support.

"He's an incredible player but he can't be expected to do it all on his own. In football you need help from your team mates - even when you are a great player."

Argentina were slow and ponderous on the ball as Croatia midfield cut out Messi's supply line. With a stagnant Argentina midfield, that was some part down to starting Javier Mascherano and Enzo Perez in midfield, Croatia dominated. Modric gave his view on how Croatia worked to snuff out Messi’s support.

“Leo looks fine to me, but by playing the game we played, that went against him. We closed down spaces and stopped Mascherano and other Argentina players getting the ball to him. It was very important for us to do that right at the start of the game and once we found our rhythm with the ball, we started taking control", Modric explained as per AS.

He also remarked that goalkeeper Willy Caballero’s mistake had meant that Croatia got a strong footing in the match in the second half.

"It's perfect, I thought we put in an exceptional performance and we were the better team out on the pitch. We had three clear chances in the first half which we didn't put away and in the second half, the keeper's mistake helped us even more. In the second half especially, we played well".

Croatia top Group D with six points from two matches. They play Iceland in their last group stage game and will qualify as group champions. Meanwhile, Argentina’s fate does not depend on them. They might still qualify if other results go their way and they win their last match against Nigeria.