The ESPN FC crew assess Luka Modric's credentials after he claimed The Best FIFA Men's Player award over Cristiano Ronaldo and Mohamed Salah.
Real Madrid and Croatia midfielder Luka Modric broke a decade long dominance by Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi by winning FIFA's best player award for the 2017-18 season.
Croatia captain and Real Madrid star Luka Modric has been named the Best FIFA Men's Player in 2018 after winning the Golden Ball award at the World Cup.
Marco Asensio's first-half goal was all Real Madrid needed to secure a home-win over visiting Espanyol.
Real Madrid have confirmed midfielder Isco underwent a successful operation for acute appendicitis.
Isco is now likely to miss Real Madrid's game against Sevilla on Wednesday and the derbi against Atletico Madrid on Saturday.
"Our player Isco was operated on successfully for acute appendicitis at the Sanitas La Moraleja Hospital," the club said on Twitter. "The operation was carried out under the supervision of the Real Madrid medical services. His recovery will continue to be assessed."
The midfielder, 26, has played in all five of Madrid's La Liga games this season and scored in the 45th minute of their 3-0 Champions League win against Roma. He also appeared in Spain's two Nations League victories earlier this month.
"Isco suffered discomfort in his stomach and it seems it's appendicitis and he will have an operation," Lopetegui had said at a news conference on Tuesday. "We hope everything goes well and he has a speedy recovery."
Lopetegui said he did not have a chance to speak to Isco before he went to hospital on Tuesday.
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Madrid will travel to Russia to face CSKA Moscow in the Champions League on Oct. 2 and will then face Alaves away on Oct. 6.
Defender Dani Carvajal also missed training and will not feature against Sevilla, though Lopetegui did not know if he would be able to return to face Atletico.
"We'll see," Lopetegui said. "He had an overload that didn't improve like we hoped and we have to wait. For this game [against Sevilla], he is out."
Meanwhile, Lopetegui said that individual awards are not something that interest him after midfielder Luka Modric won FIFA's The Best award on Monday.
"Individual awards don't motivate me all that much," Lopetegui said. "If there are awards, I prefer that my players win them, but I don't have much of an opinion on them."
Source: espn.co.uk