When Werder Bremen take on Dinamo Zagreb in their Champions league qualifier on Wednesday night, many eyes will be on the Croatian playmaker Luka Modric. The young midfielder will be under both scrutiny and pressure on the night.
When Werder Bremen take on Dinamo Zagreb in their Champions league qualifier on Wednesday night, many eyes will be on the Croatian playmaker Luka Modric. The young midfielder will be under both scrutiny and pressure on the night.
When Werder Bremen take on Dinamo Zagreb in their Champions league qualifier on Wednesday night, many eyes will be on the Croatian playmaker Luka Modric. The young midfielder will be under both scrutiny and pressure on the night. On Tuesday evening, Zagreb’s coach Brank Ivankovic was all praise for the 21 year old: “Modric is better than Diego and he will prove that on the pitch. He is one of the world’s top five playmakers.” The trainers word’s were supported by the opinion of sport director Zoran Manic: “We are happy that he will be with us until at least the winter break, or maybe even the Euro 2008 championships.” Mamic doesn’t expect the club to be able to hold on to him for much longer than that: “Modric is still young and is still not putting any pressure on us, otherwise he’d be hard to hold on to. He knows well that his time is coming. Arsenal manager/trainer Arsene Wenger has made it clear that he is very interested in the youngster but he still has a contract here. He belongs to Dinamo.”
Zagreb have seen two important figures depart the club this summer. Eduardo da Silva (Arsenal) and Vedran Corluka (West Ham United) have both gone to try their luck in England’s Premier League. “We managed to keep the big clubs at bay for two years but we had to make these two transfers. It raises the image of both Dinamo and Croatian football when such players move to the world’s biggest leagues. It’s also impossible to deny our young players the chance to live such dreams”, explained Mamic. The Croatian side were also quite happy to bag the transfer fees.
Such comments are an indication to Werder as to the pride of the clu they are about to face in their Champions League qualifier. The Croatians are looking forward to the top-flight adventure: “We have a very young, unbelievably ambitious and success hungry side. We’d prefer to have Werders roll as favourites but we are very optimistic and have the right to dream. We want to remain in this tournament for as long as possible. Football is the most beautiful game in the world and it always has surprises. That’s the great thing about it, the best teams don’t always win”, summed up Dinamo coach Ivankovic.
On Tuesday evening, Zagreb were all but coy about how they see their chances of progressing past Werder: “When a side like Bremen can put out the kind of team they can despite the number of injury problems they have then it’s an advantage for them. I don’t wish to talk about their weaknesses here but we aim to use them. I’m convinced our team will present itself in a good liht tomorrow”, said Ivankovic, who is hoping to achieve a good position for the second leg: “One thing is clear, the return leg will be a sell out and we will have our fantastic fans behind us – it’ll be a great game.”
