PFor more than six years, people have been trying to push Luka Modrić out of the squad. It was only after the 2018 World Cup that friends cautiously broached the subject: his contemporaries Mario Mandzukic and Vedran Corluka had called it quits after Croatia’s defeat in the final, and Modrić himself knew that there was a certain elegiac poetry in accepting the final applause at the moment of his country’s greatest success. Praise rang in his ears, the Golden Ball was in his hand. They wanted more and so on. But still, something inside him rebelled.

“My heart told me to stay,” he later wrote in his autobiography. “Playing for the national team is one of the most fulfilling experiences, and I still want to experience that. I feel fit and motivated. It’s true that retiring after the silver medal in Russia would have made the biggest impression. But I don’t really care about impressions.”

So here he is again, reporting for duty in Zagreb this week, greeting a few new faces but mostly the same old bunch. Mateo Kovacic hugs him so hard he could warm coals. Luka Sucic, the Real Sociedad midfielder who was three when Modric made his Croatia debut, gently wraps him in his arms as if he were his favorite grandmother. It’s been four tournaments since the 2018 World Cup, Croatia’s golden generation is slowly disappearing over the vanishing point, and even then Modric was the second oldest player in that squad.

He turns 39 on September 9. What is he still doing here? There is vague talk in Spain that Modrić’s decision to extend his international career has not been met with unanimous approval at Real Madrid. When he was offered a one-year contract extension in July, it may have been assumed that he was finally being won over. But anyone who knows Modrić would have told you that this man will keep going as long as his legs can support his weight and the ball still dances to his tune.

Domagoj Vida and Marcelo Brozovic were the latest to announce their retirements following the disappointment at Euro 2024, with the latter opting to stick with 99 appearances. Kovacic is still a force to be reckoned with, while Ivan Perisic is just scraping by. And for a coach who is about to enter his eighth year in charge, Zlatko Dalic has a better handle on the passage of time than most. “We are without two senators, but we are happy that our captain is staying on board,” he said when announcing the squad last month. “Luka is our great strength, both on and off the field.”

Over the course of this seemingly endless autumn of his career, Modrić has become a figure bigger than himself, bigger even than the nation he leads or the club he represents. You may remember the viral video of the journalist at Euro 2024 imploring Modrić to “never stop”. Almost without exception these days, opposition fans rise to give him a standing ovation, from Anfield last year to Las Palmas last week. On some level, you get the feeling that football almost wants to make Modrić keep playing. That’s doubly interesting considering the player he’s up against in Lisbon on Thursday night.

Cristiano Ronaldo turned 39 in February and has also decided to move on with his international career. Yet it is a far more controversial decision. “When the time comes, I will move on,” Ronaldo announced this week ahead of Portugal’s Nations League double-header against Croatia and Scotland, as if this was a decision for him and him alone. Which it probably is: even after a disappointing Euro 2024, Roberto Martínez has shown no inclination to respond to the growing tide of public opinion in Portugal urging him to move on from Ronaldo and build a new team around his incredibly talented core of peak-age players.

Despite playing alongside him for six years in Madrid and winning virtually every trophy in the sport, Modrić has strangely little to say about Ronaldo in his autobiography. Of course there is a deep mutual admiration, a faithful account of achievements and successes, the odd word of encouragement exchanged over the years, but between the lines the connection between them seems to be more professional than personal. As teammates they are firmly bound together in a shared mission. As people they could hardly be more different.

The divergence of views became most apparent in late 2018, when Modrić arrived at the FIFA The Best awards ceremony in London and found Ronaldo’s seat empty. Modrić was the favourite to win the main prize, but Ronaldo and Lionel Messi – who were invited to the ceremony as members of the World Ranking – had decided to skip the evening. Modrić understood why, but he still found it difficult to hide his disappointment.

“I was sorry they were not part of that unforgettable evening,” he later wrote. “I think it would have been much more elegant if they had turned up even if they had not won. That would have shown respect to all the people who voted for them in the past, but also to the football movement as a whole.”

Ronaldo’s fans, however, would probably argue that irreverence was the foundation of his success: disrespect for convention and tradition, disrespect for records, a grandiose disrespect for critics and centre-backs alike. Disrespect helped Ronaldo break barriers. But it is also the reason why, on his own extended farewell tour, he receives only a fraction of the admiration and affection that Modrić seems to inspire everywhere he goes.

Modrić has won everything in club football. He is the most decorated player in Madrid’s history. Next month he will almost certainly break Ferenc Puskas’ record as the club’s oldest player. But of course an international trophy will elude him. He must feel, as we all do, that 2018 was his best chance, that 2022 was his last chance and that 2026 – when he turns 40 – is unlikely. But the Nations League, a tournament Croatia missed out on last year by a penalty shootout – this could be his final crowning achievement.

And if it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen. Maybe the fight is enough. Maybe the shirt is enough. Maybe love is enough: love of the ball, love of the game, love of the opponent. A country he would die for and a family that will suffer with him. What is he still doing here? Maybe we need to turn the question around. It’s international match week. Where else would Luka Modrić be?