It's hard to believe, but Luka Modric is now 35 years old.

The astonishment stems from the fact that the captain of the Croatian national team belongs to the kind of people who can't tell their real age.

Modric would also like to pass as 25.

He looks the same as always, half-length blonde hair, childlike contours.

A face that has so far defied the ravages of time.

It fits into the picture that Modric still plays football like a younger version of himself. Three years ago, at the World Cup in Russia, he led his country into the final. For the first time ever. In the same year he was named the best soccer player in the world. That was also a first. His part in this historic success was great, and it is no less at this European Championship. Croatia are no longer the same team as they were three years ago, as the preliminary round showed.

It's good that Modric can still be relied on.

In the decisive group game against Scotland, he heaved the team and the country back onto his slender shoulders to carry them across the pitch.

In Glasgow for 90 minutes.

Almost all attacks ran through him, he is heart and brain rolled into one.

And if need be, also goal scorers.

It was the 62nd minute at Hampden Park, Croatia had been eliminated at this point.

A 1: 1 against the Scots would not have been enough.

Modric paves the way

Mateo Kovacic played the ball in front of the penalty area, very gently, as if he didn't want to offend him with his feet. Because the master was still to come, the decisive treatment would be done by Modric anyway. He rushed up and chose neither cock nor pick, the tools of the working class. Modric is a footballing nobility, he promoted him with the outer instep in the direction of the upper corner. Massive and yet with a seldom seen grace.

The goal paved Croatia's way into the round of 16, Ivan Perisic later scored the important 3-1. As a result, the Croatians overtook the Czech Republic at the last moment, but it also made it into the round of the last 16 as one of the best third in the group. The Croatians will continue against Spain this Monday (6 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the European Football Championship, on ZDF and MagentaTV) in Copenhagen. What is possible there? Nobody really knows, not even Modric. As a captain, he's been busy these days, and not just on the field.

One of his tasks is to create a team structure where egoism dominates.

After the very successful World Cup, longstanding supporters like Ivan Rakitic or goalkeeper Danijel Subasic stopped.

Younger, talented players moved up, but there was a vacuum in the dressing room.

The generations do not always agree, it is said, young versus old, old versus young.

The tension on the field was particularly evident in the first two games.

Eleven soloists played for themselves, where years ago one ironed out mistakes for the other.

The bad mood spread to the country and its people, the national team was last seen more and more critically in Croatia.

It went so far that coach Zlatko Dalic, a celebrated hero in 2018, would have been sacked if the team had not reached the round of 16.

All the more credit is given to Modric for shining in this difficult environment, even for him. He's used to a lot from everyday life. He has been playing for Real Madrid for nine years, arguably the most excited of all excited big clubs. There he prevailed against adversity at the beginning, including against a coach José Mourinho, who did not want him in the first place. With Real, he has won everything there is to be won, and he is already considered a club legend.

The often harsh media conditions in Spain's capital hardly affect him.

If you had to experience what Modric experienced as a small child, football will always be a game for you.

No matter how great the public pressure may be.

He and his family were expelled during the civil war, his grandfather died in attacks, and his parents' house was burned down.

In a refugee shelter, his only playmate was a worn-out football for a long time.

Modric did not have any visible external scars.

Nor would they suit him and his eternal youth.