ST PETERSBURG: Croatia defender Dejan Lovren believes Luka Modric never gets the credit he deserves and would win the Ballon d’Or if he played for Spain or Germany.

Modric has been one of the stars of the World Cup so far, scoring in each of his opening two games as Croatia have stormed to the top of Group ‘D’.

His second strike, a superb, bending effort from 25 yards, helped them to a 3-0 victory over Argentina and compounded the misery for Lionel Messi, a five-time winner of football’s most prestigious individual prize.

Modric has never even made the top three.

“Modric would probably be getting more attention than he is right now if he was a German or Spanish player. He would maybe even be a Ballon d’Or winner.” Lovren said on Sunday. “But because we are a smaller country, he does get less attention than he deserves. We are all football lovers and we know Modric is an incredible player.”

Published in Dawn, June 25th, 2018