Luka Modric Wins UEFA’s Men’s Player Of The Year Award
Luka Modric of Real Madrid and Croatia on Thursday received the accolade of UEFA Player of the Year in Monaco after his Champions League exploits.
“My father always pushed me to fight for my dreams, I owe him a lot for everything,” said Modric, whose silky midfield skills helped Real Madrid to a third straight European crown and then propelled Croatia to the World Cup final.
“It’s an incredible moment for me, I feel really excited and proud of this great award,” said the 32-year-old, who started out at Dinamo Zagreb and then had four years with Tottenham before Real Madrid prised him away six years ago.
Meanwhile, Wolfsburg’s Pernille Harder won the women’s player of the year award at the star-studded event held in the Grimaldi Forum, Monaco.
13-time European champions Real Madrid swept the individual positional prizes too, with the since-deposed Keylor Navas picking up goalkeeper of the year, captain Sergio Ramos named defender of the year and Modric, who received the overall prize from Uefa president Alexander Ceferin, unsurprisingly winning the midfielder award.