Luka Modrić did not hide from the scale of Croatia's defeat to England in Croatia vs England. The 7-0 loss in Rijeka was the heaviest in Croatia's history, and the 41-year-old captain said he had never felt so ashamed after a match.

Modrić's response to the defeat

Speaking to A Bola, Luka Modrić said the display lacked duels, fouls, aggression and unity. He called the night catastrophic, said losing like that ruined Croatia's reputation, and added that the team should be united rather than looking for culprits.

Modrić also said Croatia could have lost to a third-division team on the night. That is his view, but the football on the pitch was blunt enough: Croatia conceded seven and failed to score.

Bellingham's night for England

While Croatia were trying to make sense of the result, Jude Bellingham took the game apart. He scored once and set up three more, and Roy Keane's reaction on SPORT1 was in step with the performance: "Bellingham looked like a grown man playing against little children."

Bukayo Saka was just as enthusiastic, calling Bellingham "incredible tonight" and saying he deserved England's Player of the Year award as well as the man of the match prize. Thomas Tuchel also said he had made some adjustments and given the players a lot of responsibility, while the BBC analysts on SPORT1 said England had shown much more attacking intent under him after earlier criticism of his restrained tactics.

That attacking edge showed in the scoreline. England scored seven, and Bellingham's one goal and three assists made him the first England player since David Platt in February 1993 to be directly involved in four goals in an international match.

The result in Rijeka will stay with Croatia for obvious reasons, but the performance also gave England a very different kind of headline. Bellingham left the night with one goal, three assists and the kind of display that turned a routine win into a reference point, while Croatia were left to deal with the heaviest defeat in their history.

Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 2 outlets. How we work →