Bilic Begs Modric to Stay: The Man Who Broke England’s Heart Is Being Talked Out of Retirement

Luka Modric’s Croatia future is now the biggest job in Slaven Bilic’s in-tray. Newly appointed as Croatia head coach, Bilic says his first act will be to sit down with the AC Milan captain and talk him out of walking away after the 2026 World Cup. Zlatko Dalic has stepped down after nine years in charge. For England supporters, the name still stings — Modric ran the midfield that ended Gareth Southgate’s 2018 semi-final in Moscow.

Bilic’s first job is keeping his captain

Slaven Bilic has made no secret of his priority: a conversation with Luka Modric about whether the 40-year-old will carry on in international football. It is Bilic’s second spell in the job, having previously managed Croatia from 2006 to 2012 — the period in which a young Modric first became a fixture in the side.

Dalic’s exit closes the most successful era Croatia has ever had, built on repeated deep runs at major tournaments. Bilic inherits a squad rich in experience and short on time, with several senior players hitting the end of their careers at once.

Persuading Modric to stay does not solve the succession problem. It buys Croatia room to solve it properly rather than mid-qualification.

Why Croatia cannot simply replace him

Croatia’s issue is not a shortage of midfielders. It is the absence of anyone else who controls the tempo of a match. Modric won the 2018 Ballon d’Or, spent thirteen seasons at Real Madrid winning six European Cups, and now captains AC Milan — and he is still the player who decides when Croatia speeds a game up and when it slows one down.

That skill is why Croatia keeps beating sides with better squads in knockout football. They stretch matches, drain the urgency out of them and win the moments that decide tight ties.

Remove Modric and Croatia becomes a more direct, transition-reliant team: still dangerous, far less able to manage a lead.

The England angle: 2018 is still the reference point

England’s clearest memory of this Croatia side is the 2018 World Cup semi-final in Moscow, when Kieran Trippier’s early free-kick was overturned by Ivan Perisic and Mario Mandzukic in extra time for a 2-1 defeat. Modric controlled the second half of that match almost entirely.

England answered it in the 2018 Nations League with a 2-1 win at Wembley and beat Croatia again at Euro 2020, so the rivalry is no longer one-sided. But the tactical question has never changed: whoever wins the middle of the pitch wins the fixture.

If Modric stays, England face the version of Croatia that is comfortable in a scrappy, low-scoring game. If he goes, Bilic will be rebuilding that midfield in public.

A decision bigger than one team sheet

Modric has spent two decades at the top of the European game, with a trophy record few midfielders in history can match. What Bilic is asking him is effectively whether a generation ends now or in two years’ time.

A country of under four million people reached a World Cup final and multiple semi-finals on the back of this group. What follows it has not been established yet.

An answer is expected in the coming weeks, ahead of Croatia’s next international window.

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