Harry Redknapp says people thought he was ‘crazy’ playing Luka Modric in central midfield.
The Croatian captain’s former coach spoke to talkSPORT and hailed the former Tottenham star’s genius, after helping his side to another semi-final.
Getty
Modric doesn’t seem to be getting old and is still running the show for Croatia and Real Madrid at 37
Getty
Modric comforted a number of Brazilian stars after Croatia knocked out the South American giants from the World Cup in Qatar
Brazil fell to Croatia and the Real Madrid veteran showed class constantly unlocking the defenses of his role as playmaker.
Modric was a World Cup runner-up in 2018 and will want to do better now, with Lionel Messi and Argentina on their way to the last four.
But Redknapp says many doubted the pint-sized star could handle him in the middle of the park when he moved him there from the wing during his tenure in charge of Spurs.
“He’s an absolute genius footballer and a great guy,” Redknapp told talkSPORT Breakfast.
“It wasn’t a one minute problem. He just came in every day, trained hard, he’s a family man. He’s just a great guy and what a footballer.
“When I first went to Tottenham he was playing on the left. He was stuck there, and his movement was wide on the left and went into small pockets when we had possession and the left-back went into the hole he left, he would pick up the ball in there.
Getty
Luka Modric was a huge success at Tottenham between 2008 and 2012
“I pushed him into central midfield and people were like, ‘He can’t play there, he’s going to get murdered, he’s not strong enough, he’ll never last ten minutes’ .
“But what a player!
“For me, he was still the best player in the tournament.”
Modric has been at Real since 2012 when they paid Spurs £33million for him.
Getty
Modric played under Redknapp for four years at Spurs before leaving for Real Madrid
AFP
He spent ten years on the books of Real Madrid and won the Champions League five times
Getty
Modric was also voted the Ballon d’Or winner in 2018, the same year he was also awarded the best player trophy at the World Cup where Croatia were beaten by France.
During this period, he has won five European Cups and three titles and Real Madrid are once again in the hunt for big trophies.
He signed a contract extension this summer which keeps him until 2023 and Modric could be in contention for a second Ballon d’Or if things go as planned.
He also showed his legs were far from gone, having racked up 485 minutes of football in Croatia’s five matches in Qatar.
Tune in to talkSPORT for LIVE commentary from Argentina v Croatia in the World Cup semi-finals, Tuesday 13 December, kick off: 19:00 GMT
talkSPORT World Cup 2022 coverage
talkSPORT brings you comprehensive coverage of the 2022 World Cup.
We broadcast all 64 matches of the tournament live, with over 600 hours of coverage on our network.
You can tune into talkSPORT and talkSPORT 2 via our free online streaming service at talkSPORT.com.
talkSPORT is widely available across the UK via DAB digital radio and on 1089 or 1053 AM.
You can also download the talkSPORT app or ask your smart speaker to play talkSPORT.
