Real Madrid’s Luka Modric helped Croatia beat his French teammates Kylian Mbappe, Aurelien Tchouameni and Eduardo Camavinga 2-0 in the UEFA Nations League quarter-final on Thursday.

Three of those Real Madrid players played the full match, while Camavinga came on for Adrien Rabiot in the second half in an attempt to spark a French comeback.

Modric had a great game — and was perhaps the best Real Madrid player on the pitch, as he helped control the tempo for Croatia. He had a ‘hockey assist’ to Croatia’s first goal — a brilliant lofted pass towards Ivan Perisic, who crossed the ball to Budimir to break the deadlock

Apart from that, he had a good game defensively as well as in possession. He ended his night with 80 touches, 48/55 passes completed, one key pass, a whopping six interceptions, two tackles and six duels won. In the 88th minute, he had a brilliant last-minute challenge on Mbappe who looked through on goal.

There was a bit of friendly banter between the two as he started shouting at the Frenchman as he went down.

Mbappe was France’s best player and created chances for his teammates — he had four key passes and four shots on target — but the ball just did not want to go in. Croatia’s defense was good, no matter what France did.

He had a couple of really good chances to score towards the end but Livakovic’s reflexes turned him away time after time.

Tchouameni had a decent game as well. He controlled the tempo for France — while also trying some rabonas and flicks here and there. He completed 66 of his 73 passes, made two clearances, two interceptions and four tackles. He also won seven of his 10 duels.

Camavinga tried to do his best after coming on in the second half, but did not have a huge impact on the match.

Croatia will play France again on Sunday in the second leg of the quarter-final, and France would hope to come back into the tie.