Xavi no doubt reached higher heights at his particular specialty, but I rank Modric as the better overall player, and the better big game player, which is no small feat when up against Xavi. Reaching a World Cup final with Croatia is an insane achievement, plus all the things he's won with Real. Every time I watch him he's the driving force of the team.
So where is Modric rated in best CM’s of all time ?
- Thread starter 432JuanMata
- Start date
That’s not true at all and a revisionism of the 2018 World Cup. His partner actually played for Barcelona and won a CL with them in a central role actually (Rakitic is an underrated player), while Brozovic plays regularly for Inter Milan and is a fine player in his own right. They also had Kovacic on the bench. Croatia’s midfield was stacked and one of the best ones in that tournament.
Meanwhile neither Spain or Barcelona have made a CL/Euros/World Cup final out of 10 attempts since Xavi retired, so it’s not like they’ve thrived in the system without Xavi. Xavi was the system.
Yup, Rakitić and Brozović were also instrumental in 2018. And right now Brozović is the 2nd most important player in Croatia imo. He plays everywhere, does his bit in defense and offense and has incredible stamina. Which is strange since his habits are not so professional so to say.
TBF Spain had Iniesta, Xabi Alonso, Fabregas, David Silva and Cazorla, all of which were magestic technical and creative midfielders. You could arguably take Xavi out of that midfield and still win in 08 and 10, because of how stacked that midfield was.
Xavi only started playing to an elite level when prime Messi came along. He wasn't that great until then. Scholes was better. Modric too. And De Bruyne.
Is this satire or?
Jonjo Shelvey carries Newcastle in a way Xavi never could.
The best.
Funny how you named all those world class midfielders and still forgot Busquets and Thiago.
Spain 08 and 10 could probably field the top 3 midfields in the world at that time.
I think he’s quite possibly one of the most complete midfielders I’ve ever seen. He might not be as good as Xavi or Iniesta in certain aspects but he can do absolutely everything to the highest level.
Player of the tournament at Euro 2008, without and before Messi moved into top gear.
It’s funny as although I was desperate for us to get him from Spurs, I never knew he’d be a future Ballon Dor winner, one of the best midfielders of all time. At that time we could have got him. Glazers were just tight at the end of the Fergie days.
AgreeYup, Rakitić and Brozović were also instrumental in 2018. And right now Brozović is the 2nd most important player in Croatia imo. He plays everywhere, does his bit in defense and offense and has incredible stamina. Which is strange since his habits are not so professional so to say.
Although Modric performed some of the best performances in that WC. Brozo and Rakitic were also instrumental too. Croatia 2018 midfielders were very strong and solid.
First time I saw him live was back in 2008, last time was yesterday.
From looking him with and without the ball it's like he never grew old, his work rate, although lesser than before, is still world class. His energy, movemenet, precision in execution, vision is out of this world, and he's remained grounded and down to earth just like he was while playing for Dinamo back in the day.
It's an honour to have him as our national captain, and he surpassed Croatian all time greats like Boban, Prosinečki long time ago.
From looking him with and without the ball it's like he never grew old, his work rate, although lesser than before, is still world class. His energy, movemenet, precision in execution, vision is out of this world, and he's remained grounded and down to earth just like he was while playing for Dinamo back in the day.
It's an honour to have him as our national captain, and he surpassed Croatian all time greats like Boban, Prosinečki long time ago.
Dear oh dear, are we talking about the same guy who once played for Spurs?
They're not entirely wrong. Xavi only entered the conversation of 'best midfielder ever' after 2008. Before that he was simply a very good player. So it depends on defintions of 'elite.'
For example, if you look at the section on Individual Awards from his Wikipedia, he won Best Spanish Player in La Liga in 2005 and Breakthrough Player in 1999. Those are the only two things he won before 2008. Every other award/nomination is from after, and there's lots and lots of them.
I don't care about longevity that much. I've seen better midfielders in the last 30 years, peak v peak. It's just that I don't have the goldfish memory that so many seem to have where they can only appreciate what's right in front of their eyes and whatever happened even 5 minutes ago is promptly forgotten. I believe they call it 'being a prisoner of the moment'.
As good as Modric is, as someone supporting Bayern in their clashes with Madrid, there wasn't the same amount of fear of being outplayed in midfield against Madrid as there was with Barca.
Bayerns midfield, also a great midfield to be honest, held their own against them, in the later clashes while against Barca it was always an idea that you can't beat them trying to dominate midfield. The tactic was to sit back, absorb pressure and then attack on the counter.
Maybe that's more the fault of Modric's teammates or the coaching system, I certainly don't think Modric would look out of place stepping into the Barca midfield but then again the same can be said for other great midfielders during that era. I'm sure most would've loved to play alongside Busquests and Iniesta in that system.
Xavi and Iniesta are at a class of their own for me. Then you have the rest though Modric is certainly amongst the best of that second group, leading once you include his amazing longevity.
Bayerns midfield, also a great midfield to be honest, held their own against them, in the later clashes while against Barca it was always an idea that you can't beat them trying to dominate midfield. The tactic was to sit back, absorb pressure and then attack on the counter.
Maybe that's more the fault of Modric's teammates or the coaching system, I certainly don't think Modric would look out of place stepping into the Barca midfield but then again the same can be said for other great midfielders during that era. I'm sure most would've loved to play alongside Busquests and Iniesta in that system.
Xavi and Iniesta are at a class of their own for me. Then you have the rest though Modric is certainly amongst the best of that second group, leading once you include his amazing longevity.
Longevity means that you can make a significant contribution to getting more silverware throughout a career, so even if you don't care that much it is relevant.
That's all good but if someone has a different opinion it doesnt mean he has a 'goldfish memory' but just that - a different opinion.
Yes, 14 years ago, so what's your point?
Yeah, that's the very one.
Winner of 21 titles with Real Madrid
6 x CL team of season
2 x La Liga best Midfielder
5 x Fifa World Eleven
1 x European championship team of tournament 2008
World Cup 2018 - Player of Tournament
FIFA mens best player 2018 - Winner
Ballon d'Or 2018 - Winner
It's not irrelevant but it doesn't make you a better player than someone who's....a better player. That's why Kenny Dalglish is not a better player than George Best.
After watching him tear Liverpool's midfield up in the CL and yesterday making Danmark look like amateurs has made me changed my mind a bit. He is the best and by some margin, just a brilliant player in so many ways and intelligent. He looks like he could go on until he is 50.
Last edited:
My top 3 (the ones I have seen)
Xavi (no one touches him as a CM)
Matthaus
Modric
Xavi (no one touches him as a CM)
Matthaus
Modric
Great, good for him. Still not better than Iniesta IMO. Aside from the longevity and his quality on the ball, Modric has a lot of things that English/British people like, workrate, tenacity, energy, drive, runs around a lot, etc. So I understand, but I've personally seen better footballers in the midfield position. Doesn't mean he's not great.
Individual "awards" (many of these are just placement in deluxe XIs) are a pretty good way to judge how well a player is rated, especially relative to a time frame. An eyeroll emoji is not a counterargument to this.Yeah, because that's how you judge. Individual awards and when they were won
Other evidence is contemporary reports from the time. You will not find many articles from 2005, 2006, 2007 which suggest that Xavi was the key player of the Spanish NT (as you'd expect from a 'best midfielder in the world'). People were not immediately reducing Spain's chances to win anything because he got injured the season before 2006 WC, or assuming Barcelona weren't going to win anything that season because of his injury (they won a league + CL double).
Even more evidence is that Barcelona were seriously considering selling him in 2007. He has confirmed this and said he almost left for Bayern in 2008.
He is a contemporary of Iniesta and a bit younger than Xavi. So they've all played at the same time. Modric has lasted longer but when they were all at their physical peaks, was Modric considered the best of the 3? Obviously not. That's what I mean.
Better be.
So the comparison works only if you compare players in their peaks?
Iniesta plays in Chinese league while Modrić is playing at Madrid on an elite level still.
Yes. That's exactly the point. Otherwise Matthaus would be a better player than Maradona.
He knows a thing or 2 with the ball too..
Which I actually said.
Sorry but that's just silly.
I dont mean he's better or not than Iniesta or Xavi but if he's better it isnt just he's lasting longer or lasted longer than the 2. So your point about Matthaus doenst stand.
Better than Scholes/Iniesta but he is no Zidane
He was 28. Like I said he wasn't great for a long part of his career
'Contemporary reports from the time'
Were you not alive in the mid 00s?!
I was alive and can confirm with my own memory that he was not seen as 'best midfielder in the world' material.
They weren’t as good though, it’s like if you took Modric out of midfield and played Kovacic, he’d be good but a level below.
Spain have had fine midfielders for the past 15 years pretty much, but were only dominant in Xavi’s peak, for good reason. For example at the 2018 World Cup they had a lot of possession but it was very stale, they lacked Xavi’s purposeful passing.
Personally for me there was no clear stand out player in that Spanish team. Even as good as Xavi was he got subbed for Cesc in 2-3 matches around 60' min mark. If you had to pick one, I guess he was the best option available and hence he got that golden ball.