Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric has said that the Spanish club misses a prolific goalscorer like Cristiano Ronaldo, who used to score 50 goals per season for them, according to Marca.
The 33-year-old had one of the best years of his career in 2018, in which he won numerous individual accolades that included The Best FIFA Men's Player award and the prestigious Ballon d'Or, that was dominated by his former teammate Ronaldo and Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi for the last decade.
The Croatian star also claimed that though the attacking options available at their club's disposal like Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale, and Vinicius Jr are all great, they have failed to step up to the Portuguese talisman's standards.
Modric led his nation to their maiden World Cup final last summer and was awarded the Golden Ball following his brilliant performances throughout the competition.
Modric, who replaced Ronaldo as the winner of the world's best player award said Monday that things would be different for Real Madrid if the Portugal forward hadn't left to join Juventus last year.
"Every team would miss a player like Cristiano. It's almost impossible to find someone to replace him. Of course, we miss him," Modric said a day before Madrid hosts Ajax in the second leg of the round of 16 in the Champions League.
While Ronaldo has continued his goal-scoring ways with Juventus, Los Blancos have struggled to keep up with arch-rivals Barcelona in Spain, having lost two Clasicos back to back at the Santiago Bernebau, without scoring a single goal in both the games.
This is Madrid's first season in nearly a decade without Ronaldo, who led the team to four Champions League titles, including the last three in a row. The club has not made any major signings since he left, sticking to the players it already had.
"Cristiano is not here anymore and we can't keep complaining about it for the next 10 years," Modric said. "The club has faith in players like Gareth (Bale), (Marco) Asensio and Karim (Benzema). It added Mariano (Diaz) to the squad, and Vinicius Junior is showing that he has potential. But sometimes things don't go as expected."
He acknowledged that the club was missing Cristiano Ronaldo. "He is a player any team would miss and finding a replacement for Cristiano is almost impossible," he said. "We've already talked a lot about Ronaldo," Real Madrid coach Santiago Solari said. "He is part of this club's history, and what he has achieved can be seen throughout the team's trophy case. We are trying to do the best we can."
