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After Haaland, Messi & Co. got off to an absolute dream start at this World Cup, we’ve now just seen another superstar endure a pretty disastrous start to the tournament, following Cristiano Ronaldo’s disappointing performance against Congo earlier.

Luka Modrić is playing his 10th (!) major tournament overall for Croatia and, of course, wanted to make his mark right away today in the blockbuster clash against England. He did make an impact with his first one — but in completely the wrong way.

After nine minutes played, he botched a clearance. Modrić tried to launch the ball long, but as he turned, he struck Madueke, who had come up behind him. The inevitable result: penalty for England.

We almost had another unlucky man straight after that, because Harry Kane’s first attempt was saved by Livaković in the Croatian goal. However, he had moved off his line too early, so the penalty was retaken after a VAR review. The Bayern superstar striker buried the second attempt emphatically into the bottom right in typical Kane fashion (12′).

But the Croatia side led by Modrić still has plenty of time to come up with a response to that lead. We’re intrigued.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.

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