The person Man City need to fear the most isn’t one of the ‘BBC’ but ‘M’ instead

The footballing world takes a brief hiatus from the goings-on domestically to focus on the glitz and glamour that is the Champions League: the music (sometimes booed), the atmosphere and the expectation all crammed into 90 minutes of action. It also offers the opportunity for the “my league is better than your league” crews to fight it out on social media after every goal/controversial decision.

Tonight sees Real Madrid back in Manchester to face a City side that appear to be on the up. Four straight victories in the league, helped by the insatiable Sergio ‘Kun’ Aguero, has breathed new life into Manuel Pellegrini’s time on managerial death row. With Pep Guardiola waiting on the other side of the semi-final battle, what better way for Manuel to leave than by putting his successor to the sword? It must be a great motivation for him personally, but there’s a small matter of Real Madrid to deal with first.

City’s four-in-a-row looks pretty poor against Real’s nine wins and suggest it won’t be easy for Pellegrini’s men. Now before you La Liga naysayers scream: “But that’s because there are only two good teams in Spain,” I will kindly ask you to hush and do a little research, as that opinion is pretty stupid nowadays. Real’s recent victims in that run include La Liga leader’s Barcelona (2-1) and Europa League semi-finalists Sevilla (4-0) and Villarreal (3-0).

A lot of talk leading up to the game has been about the return of Gareth Bale to British shores. The most expensive footballer in the world is very much admired in England, as he is all over the world. His first season was littered with highlight reel goals and moments but, right now, he’s arguably in his best ever form for Real. A man to admire, sure, but one to fear just as much, if not more. But for me Bale isn’t the key man in this Real side, nor is it fellow ‘BBC’ members Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, but the little ‘M’ in midfield: Luka Modric.

Now it’s easy to overlook a player when stats rule the world of the modern football fan. It’s advanced beyond the simple “he’s scored ‘x’ amount of goals” or “he’s got more assists than anyone else” we were used to seeing, but they still don’t show the true impact certain players have on a side. Some defy stats and you only need to trust your eye to see that they are the glue which holds everything together. Luka falls into that category.

I remember watching him week in, week out for Tottenham and being amazed at what he brought to the side. The impact of a Gareth Bale or a Luis Suarez is more obvious, more in your face, but for someone like Modric, and before him Xabi Alonso, stats don’t show the full picture. They possess something which very few players have and that’s the ability to make an entire team look and perform better. They become the heartbeat of the side and set the tempo, break up opposition attacks and start the counters – the ultimate middlemen.

When you think back to great Real Madrid sides of recent memory your immediate thoughts go towards the attacking members of that said team, but who allows them that license to roam forward and cause havoc? A middleman. A crucial cog, one that does the work which goes under-appreciated but ultimately makes the team transition from being good to great. Claude Makelele was a prime example of that. In the ‘Galacticos’ era under Florentino Perez he was seriously undervalued and underpaid compared to Zinedine Zidane, Raul, Roberto Carlos and even Guti.

When he asked for a pay rise he was met with a flat refusal. He wasn’t a big enough name in the eyes of Perez to demand such things and the president promptly helped the Frenchman leave Madrid. “He wasn’t a header of the ball and he rarely passed the ball more than three metres,“ were remarks Perez made after the move went through. "Younger players will arrive who will cause Makelele to be forgotten.” No one had managed to do that, not until Luka Modric arrived.

It’s fair to say that even in England people weren’t convinced Modric was good enough for Real Madrid. It’s one thing making Spurs play well, but to improve a notoriously temperamental Madrid team? Good luck! I can understand the logic of him being lost in the politics at the club as he’s a quite shy, reserved man (when he doesn’t want to leave a team). You can’t imagine him telling Cristiano or Sergio Ramos where to go if he’s blamed for a mistake.

The opening few months of his stay at Real Madrid allowed a few of those doubters to gloat. He was famously voted as “The worst summer signing” by readers of the most popular newspaper in Spain. Truth be told, he wasn’t even playing badly but the expectations of him were unrealistic and others plain ignorant. Fans expected an attacking midfielder who would score goals and provide assists for fun, but that wasn’t what Luka did.

After a few months the criticism subsided as he settled into a more familiar role in central midfield and suddenly you could hear the little lightbulbs being lit in the heads of thousands of Real Madrid fans: “Ohhh, so that’s what he does!” The good news for Luka is that after the error of undervaluing Makelele, no one – especially Florentino Perez – was going to do that with the Croatian magician.

If you ask any Madridista who the most important player at the club is, Luka Modric will feature in the majority’s top three. He’s evolved from being a very good player at Spurs to being one of the greatest midfielders in Europe. It’s a testament to the effort he has put in, overcoming the criticism which can so often crush weaker-willed players, and emerged at the end of it stronger than ever.

Three years ago he returned to Manchester to play the red half of the city. There wasn’t a better player on the field than Luka Modric. He ran the show as he made crucial tackles and later scored a wonderful goal to bring Real level on the night. Manchester United couldn’t stifle his influence on proceedings and went on to lose the match 2-1.

Fear Cristiano, Benzema and Bale without question. But fear the silent assassin behind them more than anybody else because if he’s in control, City will be in big trouble.