Luka Modric operated, with AC Milan is over (for this season)
Acting through a note, AC Milan announced that Luka Modric has already undergone successful surgery. “AC Milan announces that, today, Luka Modrić underwent surgery at the La Madonnina Clinic in Milan,” it reads. It was necessary to undergo surgery to treat a complex multi-fragmentary fracture of the left zygomatic bone. The operation, performed by Dr. Luca Autelitano’s team in the presence of Rossoneri doctors Stefano Mazzoni and Andrea Bulgheroni, was perfectly successful. The Club wishes Luka a speedy recovery ahead of the FIFA World Cup!”
The injury had occurred on Sunday evening, during the Milan-Juventus match that ended 0-0, following a clash with Manuel Locatelli that had forced the Croatian midfielder to leave the field prematurely. The bitter news came at the worst time: Modric had been among the match’s brightest protagonists, so much so that he earned the MVP award given by the Rossoneri fans through the Diavolo’s official channels. “Four duels won out of six, three balls recovered, and a lot of quality and serenity transmitted to his teammates in every game situation. The games and minutes pass but the quality in Luka’s plays does not drop, despite the fatigue of the end of the season,” it read on the via Aldo Rossi club’s website.
This is not the first time Milan has faced such a situation. Only two months ago, in February, Ruben Loftus-Cheek had also undergone surgery for a facial fracture suffered during the match against Parma: the English midfielder had been referred precisely to Dr. Luca Autelitano, the same surgeon who successfully operated on Modric today. In that case, the recovery time was estimated at about eight weeks, a circumstance that also bodes well for the Croatian, although it was a fracture of a different nature and defined as “complex multi-fragmentary.”
The possibility, for Modric, of taking the field in the last four matches of the season thus remains an unknown: Milan is expected to face challenges with Sassuolo away, Atalanta at home, Genoa at Marassi and Cagliari at the San Siro to close out a year in which Massimiliano Allegri’s team is still fighting to return to the Champions League after a year without playing in the European cups.
In the background, the question related to the future of the 40-year-old from Zaton also remains open. Milan, Allegri and the dressing room are pushing for Modric to activate the option for another year of his contract, until June 30, 2027, provided for in the agreement signed last summer, although in recent weeks there had also been talk of a possible farewell to soccer at the end of the season. In Via Aldo Rossi they hope to receive an answer before the World Cup. A topic on which Fulvio Collovati, speaking exclusively for Sportal.it, had also expressed himself clearly: “It would be a very serious mistake not to keep him. If he is well physically, if he continues to have desire, I would say there is no doubt about it. He is an example, a leader, he never spares himself on the field. I don’t see why we shouldn’t renew his contract.”
A testament to the ever-deepening bond between Modric and the Rossoneri world, it should be recalled that in March the Ballon d’Or won in 2018, kept for years in Madrid, was on display at the Mondo Milan Museum inside Casa Milan: a gesture with a strong symbolic value, designed as a tribute to the Diavolo fans by a player who, at 40, continues to run with the energy of a 20-year-old and an uncommon professionalism. Now the goal is only one: to recover as soon as possible, possibly in time for the World Cup.
