Luka Modric

The burned-out shell of a remote cottage bears testimony to the trauma that Luka Modric lived through long before he became a Croatian national hero and Real Madrid star. Hidden in the folds of Velebit mountain, with the nearest neighbours several kilometres away, trees now grow inside the roofless ruin where Modric spent part of his childhood and a sign warns of 'Mines — Keep out!' The player's grandfather, also named Luka, lived in the house, lying on a mountain road winding through the Modrici hamlet.