Luka Modric made his first appearance of the 2026-27 season on Wednesday, coming off the bench in Milan’s pre-season friendly against Inter and taking the captain’s armband as he entered.
After a summer dominated by uncertainty over whether he would stay, the midfielder is back in a Rossoneri shirt, and his first outing gave an early sign of why the club pushed so hard to keep him around.
Modric played the final 30 minutes despite having returned to training only a few days earlier, and he ran the midfield in that spell. He controlled the tempo, dragged Milan back into the game, and had a hand in the equaliser.
He was given the armband the moment he stepped on, a signal that the standing he holds with supporters is shared inside the dressing room by Ruben Amorim.
It was only a friendly, and the caveats that come with pre-season apply. Even so, the 30 minutes showed the qualities that made his renewal a priority: the ability to slow a game down, settle those around him, and shift its rhythm from deep.
That his influence landed so quickly, on so little training, is the point Amorim will take from the night. From here, the question is how many of these minutes Modric can string together once the season proper begins.