I’m a Premier League cult icon who famously scored four goals in one game… but no one knows I’m Luka Modric’s cousin

When all is said and done, Luka Modric will go down in history as one of football’s all-time greats.

The Real Madrid legend led Croatia to the 2018 World Cup final – and proved that was no fluke by helping them to a third-place finish four years later.

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As well as playing 168 caps for his country, Modric has also won three LaLiga titles FIVE Champions League honors – and getting your hands on the 2018 Ballon d’Or in the process.

A legendary passer and true leader on the field, there isn’t a football fan in the world who hasn’t heard of him.

But what you may not know is that Modric has a Premier League icon as a cousin.

In the 1960s, a man named Joe jumped on a ship traveling from Yugoslavia to Australia.

This man was Modric’s father’s first cousin…

A decade later, he welcomed a son into the family – a son who would grow up to be an Australian legend.

The striker, who is very proud of his Croatian heritage, turned professional in 1993 with local club Melbourne Knights.

Two years later he moved to Dinamo Zagreb, where his prolific goalscoring ability caught the attention of scouts and helped them win the top domestic league in all three of the club’s seasons.

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In 1998 he moved to Celtic, where he scored 30 goals in just 37 Scottish Premiership games.

At the beginning of the new millennium, the striker moved to Leeds – home of his most famous success.

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, he’s Mark Viduka.

The striker signed a £6 million contract with Leeds and scored 59 goals in 130 Premier League games.

Most famously, Viduka scored all four goals in a dramatic 4-3 win over Liverpool in 2000.

After four seasons at Leeds, which ended in relegation to the Premier League, the Australian moved to Middlesbrough, where he scored 26 goals in 72 games, and then moved to rivals Newcastle.

Viduka scored seven goals in 38 games over two seasons before hanging up his boots.

He scored eleven goals in 43 games for his country and was inducted into Australia’s Hall of Fame in 2023.

To date, his four Champions League goals are the most of any Australian in elite European club competition.

But he can hardly brag about his European Cup successes at the family table when his cousin has five medals hanging around his neck, can he?

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