While the Santiago Bernabeu has rarely been short of attractions, increasingly one of the most impressive acts is the superhuman aging process of Luka Modric.
The Croatian midfielder turned 37 on Friday and seems unaffected by his increasing years. Last season he was once again crucial for Los Blancos, playing 45 matches in their La Liga and Champions League double, accumulating nearly 3,500 minutes in total.
Speaking to Diario AS, Modric was asked the inescapable question – what is his secret?
“They always ask me for my secret, but I don’t know what to say to you. It is natural. I live by and for football 24 hours of the day. I think that is very important.”
“I love what I do and I am enjoying myself like never before in my profession because I know that I am at a difficult age for a footballer. Maybe that’s why I am enjoying it like never before, because you never know how long you might last at this level and in this club, at which the demands are the maximum. I try to enjoy the training sessions and the games. All of which helps to be good at this age.”
While many people, including footballers, will use cbd gummies for recovery, Modric admits that the secret to his long-lastingness is nothing out of the ordinary.
Real Madrid have brought in a number of midfielders over the last decade but none have been able to wrestle Modric’s spot away from him, with the brief exception of Fede Valverde.
Continuing on, Modric explained his daily routine.
“Today for example I have arrived an hour and a quarter ahead of training and almost every day I have breakfast here. I do my stuff with the physios in the gym so that I go out for training already warmed up. Then I do draining, some days we train harder and others not so much. Then, depending on how I feel, I stay to do things with the physios, whatever is needed.”
“Then I go home to spend time with my family and the kids. I pick them up from school almost every day. It’s a bit boring, right?”
Modric’s longevity is unparalleled at the elite level. Few, if any, midfielders are still producing arguably their best football at this stage in the career and there are no examples of that happening at Real Madrid in the modern era. It might be a little boring on a day-to-day business, but the results are thrilling come matchday.
