In the match that Croatia had against Portugal in Euro 2016 Luka Modric as well as Mario Mandzukic were hopefuls on whom the team depended upon for performing against their opponent.
Luka is considered to be one of the key players of Croatia and he as well as Mario trained well for the game in round 16 when they were up against Portugal. However, the reason that the players had to focus on their training was because both players were recovering from injuries. The coach has stated that he had doubts whether Luka and Mario were in shape to play the game for the entire 90 minutes. He had stated this a day before the match. He stated that both players appeared to be in good shape. Luka and Mario had been injured during the game that Croatia played against Czech Republic which had ended with a draw of 2-2.
Modric had suffered muscle injuries that were the playmaker in the game. He was unable to play the match in the final group stage, which resulted in a win against Spain. The return of the two players was crucial for the match against Portugal. It was a point when the country was looking at progressing up the ranks in the tournament. It also brought back memories of the team’s performance in the tournament in 2008 and 1996 when the country was able to move to the quarter finals.