Croatia thrive in the shadows: Modric

Having already sent one South American side home from the World Cup, Croatia will be aiming to reach back-to-back finals when they lock horns with Argentina in Tuesday's semifinal at the Lusail Stadium.

And their skipper Luka Modric said their achievement so far has been incredible.

"It's impressive to be in a World Cup semifinal again , what this team is doing is something incredible," Modric said in an exclusive interview to RTVE in Doha.

Despite never being considered as favourites, Croatia made an inspiring run and only fell short in the final four years ago in Russia. Modric, who was part of that team and is now the leader of the Croats, said it suits his side to be in the shadows. 

"It's normal, everyone looks more for the big countries.  As we are a small country, nobody takes us into account, but we don't have a problem with this, that others are the favourites and we are in the shadows . That is an outside thing , which we cannot control. We can only compete to the maximum and give everything, which is our forte," Modric added.

Modric also reminded how he had warned everyone to not take Croatia lightly even before the greatest show on the earth began.

"Before I went to the World Cup, we talked about it a lot in the locker room and I said 'watch out for Croatia'.  I saw a very good, mature team , with young people who have brought new quality and energy".

"Since the Euro,  there is a fact that I did not know about. Our coach told us, that in 22 games we have only lost one. It is something impressive, we have played many good games and that also says a lot about us. I was confident that we could do something. And, after four years, being in the semifinals is something very big", he added.