Modric Comes On To Inspire Croatia To Victory Over Malta
Zlatko Dalic was forced to call upon substitute Luka Modric as Croatia initially laboured to a 3-0 win over Malta in World Cup qualifying.
The Real Madrid midfielder had been left on the bench to start the match, though Dalic had warned beforehand that he would play his captain should he need to.
With Croatia flat in the first 55 minutes of the game, Modric came on for Milan Badelj, with Ivan Perisic and Josip Brekalo also entering the fray.
It was the versatile Inter winger who opened the scoring just after the hour mark, while Modric converted a penalty to double the hosts’ lead.
Brekalo completed the hat-trick of substitute goals with Croatia’s third in the final minutes as they eventually cruised to their second win in qualifying for Qatar 2022.
