Luka Modric became the first Croatian player to win the Ballon d'Or on Monday (December 3rd). A consecration for a boy who had to take shelter to avoid the bombs during his first training with the NK Zadar.

The road to the Golden Ball was long for Luka Modric, child refugee of the Croatian War of Independence, crowned Monday best player on the planet.

Hero in his country, Modric was rewarded for the crucial role he played in bringing the Croats to the World Cup final (lost to France 4-2) and Real Madrid to his third consecutive league title champions.

"2018 is the year of all my dreams. It is a great pleasure and a real honor to be part of this group of great players who have won this award. [...] My parents sacrificed everything for me when I was a child. It's thanks to them that I'm here tonight, " he said while receiving his Golden Ball at the Grand Palais in Paris.

"A leader, a darling"

The path of Modric, 33 years old, had however started very far from there, on the slopes of the Velebit massif which overhangs the Adriatic, where remain today only the calcined ruins of a house of the village of Modrici.

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It was the home of his grandfather, another Luka Modric, killed by Serbian forces in the first months of this conflict (1991-95) which was to have some 20,000 dead. Nearby, a sign "Danger! Mines! Recalls this past.

Six-year-old Luka Modric fled with his family 40 kilometers away in the coastal town of Zadar. It is there, in the crash of the bombs that fall on the small port, that will hatch one of the greatest contemporary talents of the European football.

"I had heard about a hyperactive little boy who, in a hotel hallway, kept kicking a ball and slept with it, " recalls Josip Bajlo, then coach of the NK Zadar team.

The talent of the boy seems obvious: "He was an idol for those of his generation, a leader, a darling. The children already saw in him what we see today, " says the 74-year-old coach.

Training under the bombs

The phenomenon explodes in a terrifying atmosphere: "It happened millions of times that the bombs begin to fall while we go to training, forcing us to run to the shelters," recalls Marijan Buljat, a friend of Luka Modric.

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A former professional, 36-year-old Buljat is convinced that by forging a great deal of strength, the rigors of this period were "one of the factors that contributed to [...] becoming one of the best players in the world. of the world .

Today in the third division, NK Zadar is a club renowned for having trained many players, from Josip Skoblar to Danijel Subasic, but in the eyes of the fans, Modric has a status apart, even if he has never worn the jersey of the professional team: he went to Dinamo Zagreb when he was 15 years old. "For Zadar, Luka is a football god , " says Slavko Strkalj, a 66-year-old retired steelworker.

His immense popularity in Croatia, however, was tarnished by his testimony last year during the trial for corruption of former Dinamo Zagreb boss Zdravko Mamic.

Modric's testimony seemed likely to partially exculpate Mamic, hated by many Croatian supporters who accuse him of putting the football of their country in sharp cut.

"Not easy to recover"

Due to lack of evidence, the Croatian courts finally gave up on Monday, the day of surrender of the Golden Ball, charges for false testimony that weighed against him and could have been up to five years in prison.

And the Real Madrid player's World Cup race quickly erased the resentment that had begun to appear among his supporters.

Although the small nation of 4 million people lost in the final 4 to 2 against France, more than 500,000 people have acclaimed him as a hero on his return to Zagreb.

Modric, voted best player of the World Cup, and also won the titles of best player of the season for UEFA and FIFA.

"It was an incredible season, the best of my life," he said at the time.

The reverse of the medal, the epic in Russia was difficult to digest and he lost his superb on the field. "We wanted to do something great with Croatia so much that now all these emotions are falling on us and that it was not easy to recover," he said in September. interview to the trade union of professional players (FIFPro).

This slap is not enough, however, to bring down the crown of the Croatian "little prince" , a small refugee who has become a football giant.