Modric's goal and assist statistics, which people often quote on social networks (usually with the aim of devaluing him) do not include the first 3 seasons (and part of the 4th season) of his club football and also leave out his entire Croatian national team career. Therefore, Modric's 122 career assists is a
completely wrong statistic because it includes only 705 Modric's club games (Real Madrid, Tottenham Hotspur, and part of his club career in Dinamo Zagreb) and in reality Modric played over 800 games for 5 different clubs. In addition, Modric played 162 games for the Croatian national team and recorded another
25 assists (+ 23 goals), which are also
not included in that Modric's incomplete total of 122 assists.
For comparison, Xavi while playing for Spain also registered 25 assists (+ 12 goals) in 133 appearances for Spain. It should also be mentioned that Xavi's 212 club assists also include 27 assists in Al-Sadd SC.
Also, regarding the comparisons between Xavi and Modric, since this is a thread about the Champions League I'll repeat:
- Modric played in the 5 Champions League finals. Besides Modric only Carvajal and Benzema played all five Real Madrid's Champions League finals in this era but Modric played the most minutes (Modric 120+120+90+90+90, Carvajal 120+52+90+37+90, Benzema 79+77+77+89+90). Modric was a key member in all 5 Real Madrid's Champions League campaigns, he was chosen in Champions League Squad/Team of the Season every time when Real Madrid won the title (he was also in Champions League Squad of the Season in 2020/21 season when Real lost in the semi-final).
- Xavi won 4 Champions Leagues, but Xavi didin't play in the first final and in the last he played only 12 minutes. Therefore, the dominant Xavi played a major role in only 2 finals, Modric in 5! Xavi in Champions League Finals 0+90+90+12 minutes.
Related to Modric, I will also mention that according to IFFHS only 5 footballers played more games than Luka Modric in the
21st century (and next month Modric should pass Iker Casillas on the list).