Didulica hails Luka Modric as Croatia's greatest player: "He's like your little kid brother"
Former Croatia international Joey Didulica hailed midfielder Luka Modric as the country's greatest ever player ahead of Sunday's World Cup final.
Croatia star Luka Modric is just like a little kid brother and undoubtedly the nation's greatest ever player, former team-mate Joey Didulica said. Modric has led his country into the World Cup final for the first time, and France await them in Moscow on Sunday.
The Real Madrid midfielder has been touted as a potential World Cup Golden Ball and Ballon d'Or winner, having also helped the LaLiga giants to a third consecutive Champions League crown back in May. Didulica, part of Croatia's 2006 World Cup squad alongside Modric, lauded the superstar.
Adorable Modric was "such a nice kid"
"He's a small man, but he's got big personality. He's a lovable kind of character," the former Ajax goalkeeper told Omnisport. "What makes him such a lovable character is his ability during a game, his work rate. He'll run for somebody else, he'll make a tackle for somebody else, and he trains hard, he's got respect off the field as well as on the field. He's one of these characters that he's like your little brother. He's just adorable. You just want to hug him. He's there, he works so hard but he's got a big personality. He's very outspoken, but you look at him and you just want to hug him. He's a nice kid. I remember when I was there, he was still young but he always used to talk about Ajax to me and [say], 'You're at Ajax, that's my dream sort of club, I love Ajax' and he was just asking a lot of questions. He always stayed back after training and would shoot and ask, and ask politely, 'Would you mind going in goal?' and things like that. He was just really nice and everybody just flocked to him, they wanted to hang out with him."
Modric is simply the best
Didulica, who finished his career with four caps for Croatia, said no midfielder on the planet could argue they were better than Modric. The former keeper also believes Modric – a LaLiga, Copa del Rey, Supercopa de Espana (2) and Champions League (4) winner – is undoubtedly Croatia's greatest player of all-time.
"How can he not be? Not just this tournament, but three Champions Leagues in a row," he added. "He's the most decorated for sure. He's won the most titles out of any Croatian player – domestically and also Champions League. If he was to take home this, that would be something massive, on another scale."