{"id":31810,"date":"2026-04-27T18:31:32","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T18:31:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/27\/ac-milan-and-croatia-midfielder-modric-breaks-cheekbone-aims-to-qualify-for-world-cup\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T18:31:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T18:31:32","slug":"ac-milan-and-croatia-midfielder-modric-breaks-cheekbone-aims-to-qualify-for-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/27\/ac-milan-and-croatia-midfielder-modric-breaks-cheekbone-aims-to-qualify-for-world-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"AC Milan and Croatia midfielder Modric breaks cheekbone, aims to qualify for World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>MILAN (AP) \u2014 Luka Modric&#8217;s broken cheekbone has almost certainly ended his club season with AC Milan, but the Croatian captain is expected to be fit for the World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>Modric was injured during Sunday&#8217;s 0-0 draw with Juventus when he attempted to head midfielder Manuel Locatelli in the air, and was sent off in the final minute.<\/p>\n<p>Tests on Monday revealed a fracture in his left cheekbone, and Modric underwent surgery a few hours later.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">milan said<\/span> It was a &#8220;complex, multi-fragment fracture of the left cheekbone,&#8221; but the surgery was &#8220;completely successful.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The club did not specify how long Modric would be out. However, there are only four matches left in Serie A.<\/p>\n<p>Croatia will begin their World Cup match against England in seven weeks&#8217; time on June 17th. They will also play against Panama and Ghana. <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">Group L<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The club wishes Luka a speedy recovery ahead of the FIFA World Cup!&#8221; added Milan.<\/p>\n<p>Modric is in the final months of his contract with Milan. <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">signed a one-year contract<\/span> Following last summer <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">13 seasons full of trophies<\/span> At Real Madrid. He has the option to extend his contract for another year.<\/p>\n<p>Modric grew up supporting AC Milan and became a key player for the Rossoneri. The 40-year-old has started 32 of 34 league games and was on the bench just once.<\/p>\n<p>He was named player of the match on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>AP Soccer: <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/soccer<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/modric-injury-milan-croatia-world-cup-a0ebb589a0adc3b7bbf9579d7fefa0ba\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MILAN (AP) \u2014 Luka Modric&#8217;s broken cheekbone has almost certainly ended his club season with AC Milan, but the Croatian captain is expected to be fit for the World Cup. Modric was injured during Sunday&#8217;s 0-0 draw with Juventus when he attempted to head midfielder Manuel Locatelli in the air, and was sent off in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31811,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-31810","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>AC Milan and Croatia midfielder Modric breaks cheekbone, aims to qualify for World Cup - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/27\/ac-milan-and-croatia-midfielder-modric-breaks-cheekbone-aims-to-qualify-for-world-cup\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"AC Milan and Croatia midfielder Modric breaks cheekbone, aims to qualify for World Cup - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"MILAN (AP) \u2014 Luka Modric&#8217;s broken cheekbone has almost certainly ended his club season with AC Milan, but the Croatian captain is expected to be fit for the World Cup. Modric was injured during Sunday&#8217;s 0-0 draw with Juventus when he attempted to head midfielder Manuel Locatelli in the air, and was sent off in\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/27\/ac-milan-and-croatia-midfielder-modric-breaks-cheekbone-aims-to-qualify-for-world-cup\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-27T18:31:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin_ok9yktt6\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin_ok9yktt6\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/27\/ac-milan-and-croatia-midfielder-modric-breaks-cheekbone-aims-to-qualify-for-world-cup\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/27\/ac-milan-and-croatia-midfielder-modric-breaks-cheekbone-aims-to-qualify-for-world-cup\/\",\"name\":\"AC Milan and Croatia midfielder Modric breaks cheekbone, aims to qualify for World Cup - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/27\/ac-milan-and-croatia-midfielder-modric-breaks-cheekbone-aims-to-qualify-for-world-cup\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/27\/ac-milan-and-croatia-midfielder-modric-breaks-cheekbone-aims-to-qualify-for-world-cup\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2Fe42F512F6ad393b6fe99b69c90d608bde4b52F8072d1895a7e44608f86af563b01b342.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-27T18:31:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b2ade58a96ab056f743f12490573ae9\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/27\/ac-milan-and-croatia-midfielder-modric-breaks-cheekbone-aims-to-qualify-for-world-cup\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/27\/ac-milan-and-croatia-midfielder-modric-breaks-cheekbone-aims-to-qualify-for-world-cup\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/27\/ac-milan-and-croatia-midfielder-modric-breaks-cheekbone-aims-to-qualify-for-world-cup\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2Fe42F512F6ad393b6fe99b69c90d608bde4b52F8072d1895a7e44608f86af563b01b342.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2Fe42F512F6ad393b6fe99b69c90d608bde4b52F8072d1895a7e44608f86af563b01b342.jpeg\",\"width\":980,\"height\":653},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/27\/ac-milan-and-croatia-midfielder-modric-breaks-cheekbone-aims-to-qualify-for-world-cup\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"AC Milan and Croatia midfielder Modric breaks cheekbone, aims to qualify for World Cup\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/\",\"name\":\"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\",\"description\":\"EPL VIP is your ultimate source for all things related to the English Premier League. 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