Modric "Ashamed" of Croatia's "Catastrophic Night" in England Rout

Luka Modrić has described Croatia's performance against England as unacceptable after the visitors inflicted a historic 7-0 defeat on the hosts in the UEFA Nations League.

The Croatia captain said he had never experienced such shame in his 20 years representing his country. The heavy loss in Rijeka on Saturday was the national team's biggest defeat, surpassing their previous record of a 6-0 loss to Spain in 2018.

Modrić, who earned his 205th international cap, criticised Croatia's lack of intensity, aggression and unity. He acknowledged that England were the stronger side but insisted that the manner of the defeat was damaging to the reputation Croatia had built through years of international success.

The midfielder's comments followed a match in which England had established a commanding advantage before half-time. Harry Kane opened the scoring in the eighth minute, Jude Bellingham added a second, and Anthony Gordon made it 3-0 before Bukayo Saka struck just before the interval.

Kane scored again early in the second half, while Saka completed his brace before Morgan Rogers added England's seventh goal late on. Modrić was substituted in the 57th minute, with Croatia already trailing 5-0.

The result was a dramatic setback for Croatia after their campaign had begun with a 2-1 victory away to Czechia. That promising start was followed by a 4-1 defeat to Spain, leaving the team under pressure before the meeting with England.

Croatia are now third in Nations League Group A3, with their hopes of progressing to the knockout stages under serious threat. Spain are next at home on 6 October, before Croatia face England away on 12 November and host Czechia three days later.

Despite the scale of the defeat, Modrić urged his teammates to resist the temptation to blame individuals. He called for the squad to respond with pride, determination and unity, arguing that those qualities must remain even after such a damaging result.

For Croatia, the immediate challenge is to recover quickly against Spain and show that the record defeat will not define the remainder of their Nations League campaign.