Some time ago, Modric, the same age as Ronaldo, renewed his contract with Real Madrid. On the surface, this is an internal matter for Real Madrid, but given Modric's special status, this matter may be seen as a matter for the whole of European football. Don't forget, Modric is European Footballer of the Year. Now, Cristiano Ronaldo is gone, Benzema is gone, Messi is gone, and in the entire European football, there is only one European footballer left.
Although there is no guarantee of how Modric will be next season, his stay does leave the Footballer of the Year signature in Europe.
It can be seen that the peerless double pride era that has lasted for more than ten years has caused what a big superstar break. Of course, it cannot be generally assumed that only European Footballer of the Year is a superstar, but it has to be said that with this identity, the player will add a palace temperament. This is also the reason why many excellent players have not won the European Ballon d'Or and are criticized by many fans. In the past, the European Golden Globe Awards have been full of flowers, even in the era of Da Luo and Zidane, Owen, Figo, Nedved, including the slightly later Shevchenko, have all won the European Golden Globe. In short, although Da Luo and Zidane are considered the two best players in this era, their advantages are not crushing, at least, many equally good players of the same era can also reach the peak of individual glory.
But what about the peerless double pride era? Mero's advantage is so obvious that it's obviously a little boring. The two nearly monopolized the European Ballon d'Or, and it wasn't until 2018 that Modric broke that monopoly. But at that time, Modric was also 33 years old. Modric is still a late bloomer, and those stars who were in their early years had a chance to win the award, but in the end they were all wiped out by Mero, such as Sneijder, like Iniesta, like Ribery, like Xavi...
There is an embarrassing phenomenon in European football now, once it reaches the selection stage of the European Ballon d'Or, everyone will take it for granted to go to Messi or Ronaldo. In fact, this era should have ended a long time ago, and the new generation of players should have stood out a long time ago, but every time this era is mentioned, it is always said that the end, the end, but it just can't end. And after Messi won the Hercules Cup, the 2023 Ballon d'Or may still be his. This year should have belonged to Haaland, but for now, he may not have any advantages.
In Da Luo's era, most of the players won the Ballon d'Or before the age of 30, or in their early 30s. Few people can still win awards like Mero, thirty-five six. The point is that Mero has always monopolized the award, resulting in many players who should have been superstars always one step behind. This also caused that when Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi, Benzema, these European footballers left Europe, European football actually had a feeling of being drained, and only Modric, the European footballer of the year, was supporting the façade.
From this point of view, when Modric also left Real Madrid, or left Europe, the peerless double pride era is really over. Because at that time, European football must give birth to a new European footballer of the year, and there will be no more Mero and the old players of Mero's contemporaries to compete.
Peerless double pride is great, but also unusual, compared with one or two people monopolizing the European Golden Globe, we still want to see a hundred flowers bloom.