Luka Modric is 37 and it is 16 years since he was pulling the strings at Wembley in that crushing Euro 2008 qualifying defeat against an England team of which all are now comfortably retired, with the strange exception of Scott Carson.

Yet here was Modric, doing the difficult stuff in a World Cup semi-final, in a different era – already with so much safely stowed in the legacy basket.

Was this the last we will see of him for Croatia? If so, this has been one of the great international careers. A World Cup final and a semi-final in his 30s, an immense influence on a generation – a man who has propelled the greatest small football nation in Europe to such heights. It felt like he just ran out of team-mates who might make a difference on Tuesday evening.

Messi rises for the big moments

The temptation is to compare him to the other 30-something, Ballon d’Or winner on the pitch, Lionel Messi, two years younger and also conserving the last embers of magic for the big moments. But Messi plays a certain game for Argentina and Modric, in turn, is obliged to do something else.

Messi saves himself for the big moments and the big moments are often still as good as they always were. When he interrupts the walking to take a penalty, or gallop in off the right side on his left foot, or twist Josko Gvardiol back to front, the game feels the same. That is what Messi can do, and then it is back to the walking. Argentina are built to accommodate it.

Modric does not have the luxury of checking in and out of a game.

Croatia’s No 10 is an astonishing generator of possession, forward-thinking passes, ingenuity. He has his part in the defensive shape, just in the inside-right channel of midfield, and he hustles for the ball.

It serves his game to nick it early and get forward quickly but that takes a lot of power and Modric still has it. He is never out of the game, even now against players so much younger that they might be forgiven for wondering why they cannot run the old guy into the ground. When Croatia are in possession, Modric and Mateo Kovacic push high and leave it to Marcelo Brozovic to bridge defence and midfield. All three of them are so good on the ball and so easily compatible that they could keep Argentina at bay.

Croatia not capable of landing a blow

The problem on this occasion was that whatever Croatia built in midfield, it never really went much further. The counter-attacking chaos that Argentina generated, especially for the second goal, was never within Croatia’s grasp.

Modric probes and builds. After Brozovic came off at the start of the second half he dropped deeper and picked the ball up closer to his own goal. A deflection from one pass sent it back into his face and that long nose took another blow.

The Croatia team orbits around Modric as Argentina’s does around Messi but the Croatia No 10 is still assigned his part of the workload. As the second half went on, it became obvious that there was just too much of it.

Croatia just were not capable of landing a blow. They had more possession but nothing like the attempts on goal.

Modric’s career has endured through three eras of this side but by the end, the old idea that prevailed in the previous round against Brazil – holding out and hoping for that chance – seemed hopeless. Modric had been substituted long before that. The road for this team had run out a long time before but still what a football nation, and what a player.