Real Madrid and Croatia midfielder Luka Modric has insisted that winning the World Cup is the only thing on his mind ahead of Sunday's final against France.

The 32-year-old has stood out for the Vatreni in Russia over the past month and is now joint-favourite with final opponent Kylian Mbappe to win the Golden Ball award.

Modric has now been tipped to end Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi's decade-long dominance in the Ballon d'Or running, having also starred for Madrid in their latest Champions League success, but the little maestro is putting talk of individual accolades to one side in pursuit of team honours.

"I've repeated several times that I'm focused on the team's success," he told reporters at Saturday's pre-match press conference. "When you're mentioned in that context, it's very nice, it's pleasing, but I don't worry myself about that.

"I want my team to win and hopefully we win [on Sunday]. Other things are outside my control. What I want is success for the national team. Individual awards are not a priority for me."

Modric has scored two goals and set up one more in six matches for Croatia this summer.

Written by
Daniel Lewis