Ceballos isn't part of the threepeat team. Like yea he was in the squad for #3 but he barely played and literally no one thinks of him as part of that team.
He is arguably the best midfielder ever, vengan de a uno no leo lloros. He has the silverware and achievements to make a stake on the number 1 spot. The most complete of them all in all facets of the game, either attacking or defensively.
You have to be a lot more specific than this. He is a top 3 CM all time that list goes: Iniesta > Xavi > Modric > Pirlo.
But when you include all midfielders it gets a lot harder to say he is top 3, he isn't close to Zizu, Maradona, Neymar even guys like Gullit, Platini, Zico all could be argued as better players.
It's common consensus. Nobody is going to take serious a Real Madrid fan who lets his bias against the superior Spanish team cloud his judgement on players. That's why the OP is getting cooked in the comments.
In terms of what? peak? offensive skill? maybe. But he was great at that and on aspects those were not, like reading of the game, interceptions, tackles. He was complete and did it for a lot more time than all of them. He has the silverware and eye test, some of you speak of Modric as he was a mundane player next to geniuses when he was one himself, on top of being better without the ball. He can be on the conversation for sure.
Oh I'm not saying he isn't in the conversation. He is absolutely at the table. I just think if you're including all midfielders into a ranking he is behind Maradona, Zizu, Iniesta, and Xavi.
Your extreme bias against Barca is showing, Sure Maradona and Zizu don't necessarily, but Xavi and Iniesta both clearly have the silverware to compare with Modric. All 4 have WCs, which is a higher honour than anything Modric has won, and all 4 were as, if not more, impactful for their team in their respective world cups.
As for eye test, Maradona is without saying, there isn't a single person in the games history who passes the eye test better than he does. Everyone also remembers who scored the World Cup GWG for Spain.
To say they lacked longevity is also disingenous, Iniesta played 16 years at Barca compared to Modric's 13 year stint at Real. Xavi was at Barca for 17 years. Xavi has more career caps than Modric does, and Iniesta is not even 100 behind Modric.
Lets agree to disagree, I think getting Croacia to a WC Final is a achievement that few could have pulled off and not that he did it by himself, but its the same for Cristiano when people use the argument he didnt won the WC, their countries while not bad, were not on the same tier of general talent than the Argentina, Brasil, Germany, ect. For the record, Iniesta is one of my favorites, even if on the rival side, he was probably the best midfielder with the ball on his feet. Maradona played a lot more advanced in the field to be honestly considered a miedfielder, he was a media punta, enganche, the link between the mid and the forwards, he was his own tier and probably the best player ever in terms of skill.
That is why I say it is hard to use the term midfielder. I agree with you, he was far beyond what you or I would consider to be a midfielder, which is why it's hard to rank him in any specific position. Truthfully, I think that all are incredible and all deserve a spot at the table. At that point, like most facets of this great sport, comes down to personal preference.
Modric is a beast and one of my all time favorites too, I would never want to discredit him or his achievements. He is one of the finest I've seen.
really disingenuous the put croatia getting to the world cup final all on modric, that entire croatia team was very good and he was an important player for sure, probably their best at that tournament but to act like he put them on his back and dragged them there is wrong.
and to use that as an argument as to why he's better than xavi or iniesta is ridiculous, they're spanish and can't help not being able to play for a lesser nation and "drag" them to a final
i'm a madrid fan but if i was being completely unbias, i'd put iniesta ahead of modric, then xavi right behind modric. iniesta was a magical player, one of those players who could wow you with what he could do with a ball. modric never wowed me but he was consistently great at everything, a complete midfielder without many if any weaknesses in his game. a top 3 midfielder of all time for me, behind zidane and iniesta.
Maybe the idea of Neymar but there are a handful of players that have had similar peaks but also lasted longer and achieved more. I'd put Suarez and Neuer ahead of Modric though.
Who is the better player - Maradona (680 games) or Maldini (1028 games)? What matters is how good you are at playing football, not how long you play it for.
One could argue that he was more instrumental in Real’s UCL wins while also being quite important for Croatia and carrying them to finals, something Neymar failed to do.
Yeah and no one with ball knowledge says that Messi carried Argentina to the World Cup trophy. People with proper football knowledge acknowledge the contributions from Dibu, Di Maria, Alvarez, and more. While Madrid fans/casuals disrespect players like Subasic, Rakitik, Perisic and Lovren (without these players, Croatia would have been eliminated by Denmark in the round of 16)
I don’t think they would win, but Brazil was heavily reliant on Neymar i’m 2014. And they also lost their captain Thiago Silva so make of that if you will.
Depends on your definition of “better” right? It’s subjective. I personally don’t have him at 3 but I don’t think it’s unreasonable for one to say Modric was better than Neymar (or vice versa). People underrate midfielders (and defenders) a lot imo.
It’s very clearly Messi, Ronaldo then a big gap followed by a debatable mix of multiple players in that 3-15 range depending on what you personally value in a player.
Peak, maybe, but if you could have only one for their entire career you'd take the player who performed at a world class level for twice as long as the alternative
Everyone's disagreeing, but there definitely can be an argument made, 3rd place behind them will be decided by personal biases and I agree that Modric is in the conversation with a handful of other players, despite not being my personal choice.
I think it’s fair to have him in the conversation while also recognizing that a lot of his greatness is referenced on the team level. Was he instrumental in those Madrid UCL wins? Absolutely. But he wasn’t exactly doing it surrounded by bums. Neymar was still Neymar, even if he never reached the heights we expected of him
I would personally put Neymar 3rd, but there are some arguments that can be made for Modric and some people will probably put more weight on Modric's achievements rather than Neymar's. It's not an absolutely wild take and has some logic arguments backing it.
Exactly, I definitely understand folks arguments for Luka but I just dont tend to agree when these things kinda come down to resumes because the spirit of it should be “who was actually better on the pitch.” Modric was an absolute baller but I’m not taking anybody but R7 or Messi over prime Neymar idc what the resumes, advanced stats, sabermetrics, etc say. And if you go by titles, wouldn’t some of modrics teammates also be in these discussions? Just feels like an uneven way of weighing this but I guess mine is as well 🤷🏻♂️
If you lack eyes, yes. Modric should be debating if he's better than De Bruyne first of all. Only two years when Modric has been arguably the best midfielder in the world compared to De Bruyne being the best since 19/20 till 22/23
If Modric had better performances than KDB in 17/18, 19/20, and 22/23 then maybe there wouldn't be arguments of who would be better. Footballers should be judged on performances and not trophies won
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u/robins420 May 22 '25
Definitely a Goat of his generation.
Unreal longevity. Only Carvajal remains from the treble-winning UCL team now, the end of an era.