lets take a closer look at Modrics season compared to Ronaldos: in the 2018 calendar year, Modric played in 26 La Liga games, of his teams 34 games. during that time, they holds a record of 19-8-7, which is good enough for 65 points or 1,91 ppg. when Modric played, they are 13-8-5, have won 47 points or 1,81 per game (without him, 6-0-2, 18 points or 2,25 per game). the whole team struggles without Ronaldo? lets only look at the 1st half of the year then. 13-6-3, 45 points, or 2,05 per game. in the games Modric played, 7-6-1, 27 points, or 1,93 per game. now it would be un wise to say they are a better team without him, but he wasnt really making them better with his presence either. lets add his 2 Copa del Rey apps in as well, when they won one (0-1) and lost one (1-2) in the QF vs Leganes. Ronaldo didnt play but Ramos, Isco, Benzema did
Ronaldo - 34 games, 24-7-3 league record - 79 points, 2,32 per game - of the 2 clubs he played for (22 games, 13-6-3, 45 points, 2,05 per game Madrid; 12 games, 11-1-0, 34 points, 2,83 per game Juve). with him playing its 8-6-1 for Madrid, 30 points, 2 per game in 15 apps (5-0-3, 15 points and 1,88 per game without him). hes yet to miss a game with us. in those 15 apps for Real, scored 22 goals and had 3 assists, out of their 64 total goals (either scored or assisted 39% of their total goals) and 47 goals they scored with him playing (scored/assisted 53,2% of them). Real was scoring 3,13 goals per game with him as opposed to 2,13 per game without him. Juve so far has 26 goals, he scored 8 goals and had 5 assists in 12 apps. means he scored or assisted half of our goals so far. in total, this calendar year, he has 27 apps in 2 different top european leagues, while banging in 30 goals and adding another 8 assists. his teams scored 73 goals with him playing (2,7 per game) and 17 goals (2,13 per game) without him. he has scored 41,1%, and scored/assisted 52,1% of his teams goals from the games he played in. he has scored 33,3% (scored/assisted 42,2%) of his teams total league goals (including games he missed) in this year. league competition wise, Ronaldo blows Modric out of the building and its not even close.
next is CL. both won it together, and started this season well. who was more important tho? they conceded 9 goals and kept only one clean sheet in the knockouts, but outscored their opponents in all but 2 games. their attack was on point last season, CR destroying everyone up until the SF and then Benzema and Bale taking over. with huge support from Marcelo and Carvajal as well. if there is anyone who thinks Modric was even top5 best players for Madrid in their last run, tell us why. but he wasnt. and CR was quite clearly their best. overall in the calendar year, Modric was 6-1-2. Ronaldo played one more game, and was 7-1-2, while scoring 7 goals and assisting another 2. only Dzeko (10, but not even in the top 30 players lolol) and Messi (8) have scored more goals in 2018. but they scored 5 each in the group stage this season while 6 of Ronaldos and both his assists came in the knock outs. also worth mentioning, Modric and Madrid bottled the USC against Atletico. its not fair holding that against Modric, he didnt start you say? thats true, they were 1-1 with him on the bench, while they lost 2-4 after he came on. #differencemaker
now for the NT season for which Modric is even considered for these awards. lets start with the less important games, friendlies and NL. Modric appeared in 4 friendlies for Croatia, they hold a record of 1-1-2 in those games, against Senegal, Portugal, Brazil and Peru. yes, friendlies arent as important as competitive games, but the results count towards the FIFA rankings, which determine your opponents for qualifiers and the NL (and group stages of the WC and EURO as well, iirc., so it holds importance. Ronaldo in 2018, 2 wins against Algeria and Egypt and a loss vs Netherlands. he scored twice and assisted once in those 3 games. Ronaldo didnt play in the NL, but Modric did in 4 games, and Croatia won once against Spain, lost twice (including a 6-0 vs Spain and a loss to England) and drew once vs England. they got relegated into league B.
now for the WC. CR scored 4 goals in 4 games, got them to the KO stage, but their approach didnt work vs Uruguay (defense & Ronaldo vs even better defense and Cavani&Suarez). not great, not bad. lets move on. Modric gets acknowledged for making the final, not winning it like Pirlo, Iniesta etc. mind you, but making it. in which manner? PKs twice, vs Denmark and Russia, and ET win vs England. they did play a great group stage tho, ill give them that. but with an excellent team as well. starters from Besiktas, Monaco, Atletico, Liverpool, Sampdoria, Fiorentina, inter 2x, Hoffenheim, Frankfurt, Barcelona, Madrid, Juventus, who didnt face a single big team in the knockouts (well, unless you consider England one) up until the final. and besides, was he even their best player? Perisic and Mandzukic were playing like possessed, while Modric wasnt even the only mid that stood out (Rakitic&Brozovic) for the Croats. Pogba gets no love for his WC, and he won it, while he didnt have a secondary playmaker (Rakitic/Kroos) in either club or country.
CL: CR > Modric
League: CR > Modric
WC: Modric > CR, but also, some others > Modric (same as in the above 2 competitions), so not exactly a stand out tournament like Zizou/Pirlo in 2006 for example. whatever angle i look at this from, it looks like a sentimental award to Luka, either that or the Real Madrid bias