Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic: Croatia’s Terrifying Midfield Axis

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: April 8, 2014

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On the surface of things, Croatia’s double playmaker midfield looks very promising. But underneath lies a true conundrum—and how manager Niko Kovac attempts to solve it is very likely to be crucial for the nation’s chances at the World Cup.

Both Real Madrid’s Luka Modric and Sevilla’s Ivan Rakitic are among the best central midfielders in this season’s La Liga, a competition known for producing top class players for that position. Very few teams in the world can boast a pairing of such quality: together, they make for a terrifying creative axis and little wonder that Spanish radio station COPE (via football-espana.net) reported of Madrid’s interest to unite them at the Bernabeu from next season.

What’s more, Modric and Rakitic are very different types of players and complementary to each other.

With 12 goals and 11 assists to his name (14 and 19 across all competitions), Ivan Rakitic is one of only four players in the league with double figures in both categories—the other three are Lionel Messi, Gareth Bale and Carlos Vela. According to WhoScored.com, with 7.74 he’s tied with Bale for the third best player in the league. Only Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have higher grades.

Marca recently called him the "Todocampista" (article in Spanish), meaning Rakitic can play in any midfield role: as long as he’s fielded in the middle of the park, it doesn’t make too much difference to him whether his position is defensive, central or attacking midfielder. He can contribute almost equally well from any of them. His biggest strengths are very accurate crosses (best in the league), key passes (second only to Angel di Maria), through balls, a great shot from distance and taking set pieces.

Luka Modric is another kind of playmaker—not nearly as direct, with his contribution less evident in conventional statistics. He only has one g...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - International Football

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