体坛英语新闻： It happened again - Modric beat Mandzukic

ZAGREB, April 23 (Xinhua) -- Luka Modric and Mario Mandzukic shared the space on the same football field again on Wednesday like they did before wearing their beloved red and white checkered Croatian shirts bringing joy to the nation that idolizes its sports heroes.

But this time at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium there was something different. Modric was wearing all white Real Madrid CF uniform. On the other side, Mandzukic was dressed all in red, color of the reigning European Champions, Bayern Munich.

Just 50 days before they would join forces and play for Croatia at the World Cup in Brazil, Modric and Mandzukic fought against each other in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League semifinal.

Real seized a 1-0 slender win at home over Bayern thanks to Karim Benzema's goal in 19th minute of the first half.

"The most important thing for Croatian football is that we have to players playing in the UEFA Champions League semifinal and that one of them will be playing in the final," Davor Suker, President of Croatian Football Federation, said before the match.

It was not the first time that Modric and Mandzukic found themselves on the opposite sides and Modric's clubs won all the five meetings with Mandzukic's teams.

Even though they were on the same field, Modric and Mandzukic almost never came across each other throughout the whole match. At times it seemed like they were running from each other. But, truth to be said, they had different roles.

Real Madrid's coach Carlo Ancelotti used Croatian midfielder mostly to make his defence stronger and Modric played that role to perfection. Modric was everywhere on the field and when he was not defending he was opening Real's dangerous counterattacks with his perfect long passes.

On the other side, Bayern's coach Josep Guardiola set Mandzukic as his lone striker at the beginning of the match. Most of the time the ball was in possession of Bayern players but they didn't know how to find a hole in Real's defence. Mandzukic was trying hard, serving not only as a striker but also helping his teammates when they had to defend.

He put pressure on Real's defence moving from one side to another, he tried to find open space in the box but his teammates could not get him the ball when he was in a good position to threat home side's goalkeeper Iker Casillas. Maybe if Mandzukic would have Modric as his teammate, the outcome of the match would've been different.

On April 29, at Arena in Munich in the return leg, Bayern will try to erase one goal deficit and Mandzukic could have a crucial role in doing that. He just has to get the ball at the right time. Something his teammates couldn't provide at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.