Luka Modric, who has officially renewed his contract for another season with Real Madrid, will turn 39 on 9 September. This figure puts the Croatian within striking distance of becoming the oldest player to play a match for the Whites. The record is currently held by Ferenc Puskas, who last suited up for Madrid at 39 years and 38 days, in the first leg of a Copa del Rey quarter-final against Betis in Seville (a 3-2 defeat) on 8 May 1966.
Barring a very serious injury or major unforeseen event, Modric would be in a position to surpass the Hungarian on the weekend of 19-20 October, in the tenth matchday of the League, in the visit to Celta. If we look at the records only for the League, the Balkan player already surpassed Cañoncito Pum last season: in the last matchday, against Betis, he was 38 years and 259 days old, compared to the 38 years and 233 days that Puskas reached, according to data from Opta.
In the history of La Liga, however, Modric is still far from the absolute records, beyond Madrid. The oldest player to play in a match in the tournament is still the Englishman Harry Lowe, who competed with Real Sociedad at 48 years and 226 days, in March 1935. The second is the former Betis player Joaquín, at 41 years and 318 days.
What Luka Modric does hope is that the moment and context in which he surpasses Puskas will be more pleasant and favourable to his interests than the one experienced by the Hungarian legend at the end of his career. That last match of his, in Seville, took place three days before the final of Madrid’s sixth European Cup in Brussels, so the club decided to send only the substitutes and the assistant coach to Villamarín, while the first-team players and coach Miguel Muñoz travelled to Belgium for a day. Puskas, a reserve this season, will face Betis in the cup match. As Alfredo Relaño recalled in this newspaper in 2015, Brand He harshly described the myth’s performance: “He is a shadow with a lot of guts.”
In the return match and with the starting eleven in white (now without Puskas), Madrid’s celebration of the Big-eared was disappointed by Betis’ elimination (2-2) after a half-hour extension plus another three 10-minute extensions, because there was no penalty shoot-out at that time.
Luka Modric’s contract renewal was a given before the Champions League final on June 1, after the player accepted the club’s terms. However, the agreement seemed a long way off for much of the season due to the Croatian’s loss of prominence in Carlo Ancelotti’s line-ups and the player’s obvious displeasure at accepting his new role in a team that no longer considered him a priority.
From being an undisputed player in the 2022-23 campaign, he became a regular substitute in 2023-24. Except for a few odd games to give Toni Kroos a break, Modric was left with the role of a backup in the final stretch of the matches, as the German’s regular replacement. His weight in those outcomes, however, grew as the campaign progressed. The competitive voracity of a footballer who wants to exhaust his days in the most important tournaments, even if with a lesser role, plus the final offer from Madrid did the rest to sign a renewal for which nobody gave a penny during almost the entire last campaign.
The different ways Kroos and Modric have understood the final part of their careers was evident. Goodbye to the German and another chapter for the Croatian, who, if nothing goes wrong, will surpass Ferenc Puskas as the oldest player to play a match for Madrid.
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