Mateo Kovacic has hailed his International teammate Luka Modric ahead of their champions league second leg encounter at Santiago Bernabeu.

Modric was instrumental in Real Madrid’s 3-1 victory over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. he assisted one of Benzema’s goals.

Chelsea will pray that the 36 years old Croatian will not have his the day when the two teams face off today at the Santiago Bernabeu

Speaking ahead of today’s game, Kovacic has admitted that it is very difficult to stop his countryman and insisted he also prefers to have him on his Team.

What was said?

“It is quite difficult to stop [Modric],” Kovacic said during his pre-match press conference.

“He is an amazing player. I admired him when I was a child when he played for my favorite club, Dinamo Zagreb.

“He has always been as good as he is now. As long as I’ve known him he has remained on the same level, which is amazing. He loves football so much. He is a professional. If he keeps going like this, I see him playing for [another] three or four years.

“It was nice and difficult to play against him, but it is never nice when you are losing. I always prefer to have him on my team. “This moment we are against each other, and we are ready to show our best tomorrow to try to go through.”