Cattermole could easily have broken my leg, says Modric

LUKA Modric admits that he was lucky to avoid another broken leg on Tuesday night after a lunging tackle from Sunderland’s Lee Cattermole.

Modric fractured his fibula in August 2009 after a tackle from Birmingham’s Lee Bowyer, which ruled him out for three and a half months, and the Croatian concedes that he was fortunate to avoid another career-threatening injury this week.

“If I had stayed with my legs on the floor it would probably have been worse, but I jumped at the last second and that’s probably saved me, “said Modric.

“I think he should have been sent off, he should have got a red card but the referee decided different and that’s it, it’s finished.

“These players need to think about it before making these tackles, because it’s their friends, professionals. You can ruin their careers.

“Thank God everything finished well – with my injury I mean. If you look at the result it’s not good for us. We are very disappointed and I think we deserved to win.

“We should have had a penalty, maybe a red card and then it’s a different game. We would win but we didn’t get the penalty especially, and that changed the game. But we will focus on the next game and try to win.”