Entrances 10 and 19 at the soon-to-be renovated Real Madrid stadium would be named ‘Luka Modrić,’ according to an online poll by the Spanish sports newspaper Marca published on Wednesday, reports Gol.hr.
In March, Marca offered readers between three and five names of former and current Real Madrid footballers for each entrance to the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.
The captain of the Croatia national team, Luka Modrić, competed with four other players who once wore the #10 on their jerseys.
Forty-six percent of readers voted for the current center midfielder of Real Madrid, Luka Modrić. Ferenc Puskas, who played for the Royal Club from 1958 to 1966, received 44 percent of the vote. Luis Figo received six percent, and Ricardo Gallego and Manuel Velázquez received two percent.
The poll garnered close to 40,000 votes, Marca reported.
However, Luka Modrić could also get entrance #19 as he wore that number from his arrival at the club in 2012 to 2017. In the competition for that entrance, Luka received 55 percent of the vote, José Antonio Reyes 39 percent, and Esteban Cambiasso two percent.
Modrić is Real Madrid’s oldest player at 36 and hopes to extend his contract, which expires in exactly three months, on June 30, 2022.
At the same time, work is underway to rebuild the stadium in the north of the city. Real Madrid, the leading team in the Spanish championship, did not report whether they would actually name the entrances to the Santiago Bernabé after their players, but it isn’t a bad idea.
According to a poll conducted on the Marca website, the number one entrance would be called Iker Casillas, honoring the former goalkeeper and captain.
Other entries would be: Chendo (2), Roberto Carlos (3), Sergio Ramos (4), Zinedine Zidane (5), Vicente del Bosque (6), Cristiano Ronaldo (7), Michel (8), Alfredo di Stéfano 9), Paco Gento (11), Marcelo (12), Thibaut Courtois (13), Guti (14), Fernando Morientes (15), Gabriel Heinze (16), Van Nistelrooy (17), Aitor Karanka (18), Vinicius (20), Santiago Solari (21), Di María (22), David Beckham (23) and Claude Makelele (24).
In the competition for #16 was Croatia national team player Mate Kovačić, who wore the Real Marid jersey from 2015 to 2018 before moving to Chelsea. Kovačić garnered 18 percent of the vote, James Rodríguez 32 percent, and winner Gabriel Heinze 50 percent.
Former Croatia striker Davor Šuker, who played for Real Madrid from 1996 to 1999, was not offered among the best #9 players. Poll winner Di Stéfano, Karim Benzema, Ronaldo Nazario, Santillana and Hugo Sánchez competed for the famous number.
Real Madrid, which has won the European title 13 times, marked its 120th anniversary this month.
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