Izuchukwu OkosiReal Madrid pipped Sevilla 1-0 Sunday night to establish a nine-point gap over second placed Girona in the La Liga thanks to the ingenuity of midfield maestro Luka Modric who rolled back the years with a performance for the ages, reports Prime Business Africa.
Modric curled a beautiful shot into the bottom left corner from the edge of the Sevilla penalty box in the 81st minute just few minutes after his introduction by coach Carlo Ancelotti and was awarded the Man-of-the-Match.
Modric, whose contract at Los Blancos expires this summer, is widely expected to not sign a further one-year contract at the Spanish champions.
Madrid had a goal scored by Lucas Vazquez disallowed earlier before Modric’s strike which had to be checked by VAR for offside after protestations by the Sevilla players.
Modric was playing on the opposite side against former teammate, Sergio Ramos.
The legendary Ramos won many titles at Madrid before leaving at the end of his contract and even turned down a multi million deal to Saudi Arabian league.
Modric spoke glowingly about the impact of Ramos whilst at Madrid, and like him who is into his late 30s, stated that age was just a number for the two of them.
“Sergio Ramos is my brother and he’s a real legend. People always judge us by our age but his level is simply outstanding. I loved seeing him today (Sunday night),” the Croatian said at full time.
Madrid’s last league loss came in September and the club heirachy might consider convincing Modric to extend his stay at the capital following the supporters’ call in the stands to hand the former Ballon D’Or winner a new deal.
Third-placed Girona are a further point adrift. They are not in action until Monday when they take on Rayo Vallecano.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
