The three best players in world football according to Luka Modric: Yamal but no Mbappe… | OneFootball

Luka Modric made some surprising choices for his best player of the year award with no Real Madrid player making his top three.

As captain of Croatia, Modric was eligible for a vote in the Best FIFA Football Awards and now that he is away from the Bernabeu, he seems to have enjoyed having a little more freedom.

Here’s who the Milan midfielder selected for his top three.

3. Lamine Yamal

If Modric was still at Madrid, chances are he would not have been allowed to even think of voting for a Barcelona player but he has done so on this occasion.

The 2018 Ballon d’Or winner chose Yamal after an incredible year for the Barcelona wonderkid.

During the 2024-2025 season, he scored 21 goals and supplied 22 assists as Barcelona won La Liga, Copa del Rey, and the Spanish Super Cup.

In the Ballon d’Or, he came second behind Ousmane Dembele but it is hard to see a future in which he is not eventually awarded the golden ball.

As for the Best Award, he was second to Dembele once again.

2. Ousmane Dembele

While Ballon d’Or holder Dembele scored enough points to be named the Best, he was not the top player in the world according to Modric.

The Croatian midfielder had the PSG and French forward as second in his list after a year in which his goal guided PSG to a first Champions League.

He scored 35 goals last year, including eight in the Champions League, and hit decisive strikes against Liverpool and Arsenal in the knockout stages.

He has started this year with three goals and three assists for the French champions.

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1. Vitinha

The midfielders’ union is in full force as Luka Modric opted to give Vitinha his number one vote.

While Dembele took the headlines for his goals, Vitinha was the man pulling the strings behind and received praise from a wide range of managers and fellow players.

With Rodri winning the Ballon d’Or last year, the idea of a tempo-controlling midfielder winning top prizes was not out of the ordinary and there were none of those from that category who had a better year than the 25-year-old Portuguese midfielder.

Modric clearly thought so but that opinion was not shared with the rest of the voting panel as Vitinha was only seventh in the voting result, sandwiched between Mohamed Salah and Harry Kane.