Wednesday, 29th October, 2014
Former Croatia boss Slaven Bilic is disgusted by the omission of Luka Modric from the 23 names nominated for the FIFA Ballon d’Or.
Modric played a starring role in the heart of the Real Madrid midfield that won the Champions League last season and was widely praised for his performances throughout the campaign.
The former Tottenham midfielder also bagged the best defensive midfielder award for his performances last term in Spanish football’s annual gala night earlier this week.
But the Croatian was missing from the list of 23 names nominated for the Ballon d'Or released by FIFA.
And Bilic is disgusted by his compatriot’s omission from the list.
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The 46-year-old feels that Modric deserves to at least feature among the nominated names, but believes that it is his humble image that went against him while the list was being prepared.
“He was voted the midfielder of the season, he absolutely deserves to be included in the list of 23”, Bilic was quoted as saying by Tutto Mercato.
“The only reason behind his omission is that he is not very marketable like others. He is a very humble and modest guy.
“The Ballon d’Or will go to the likes of [Lionel] Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, [Arjen] Robben, but like [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic or [Franck] Ribery, Modric deserved a nomination.”
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