How do you feel about Chelsea's chances of progressing?
Of course, we have our chances and we are motivated to show our best tomorrow. We did not have our best game and the result is not good and the result is not good in the last game. There is hope and we are motivated to show our best. It will be a quality game and we are looking forward to it.
Many people expected you to start in the first game, is it frustrating seeing a game unfold like that from the bench?
It is always difficult when you don't play, it doesn't matter the opponent. The manager always decides who is going to play and who is not so I was prepared to come in and be ready when it is my call because we are a team and cannot play 20 players at once. That's it, and the most important thing is that we are together to show our best tomorrow.
Luka Modric is one of your heroes, why do you admire him and how can you stop him?
The last question is quite difficult to answer. It is difficult to stop him because he's an amazing player. He's Croatian and I admired him when I was a child, he played for my favourite club which was Dinamo Zagreb. Now, when we have become good friends I admire him even more. Great person, a great player and I am looking forward to playing against him tomorrow again.
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Why has Modric remained so good for so long? Is he better than ever?
He was always as good as he is now. For me, as far as I know in the last five, six, seven years, he is on the same level which is amazing. Why he's that good? He loves football so much, he lives it every day, he is a professional and if he keeps going like this I see him still playing for three or four more years on such a high level.
As a team did you need some harsh words from the manager to get you back on track ahead of Southampton?
It is never easy to come back after a national break but it is not an excuse that we underperformed in the last two games. Of course, it was necessary to have a talk to see what we can do better and what we did well. It was a good meeting which is always important and it gave us a good lift and we are ready for the game against Southampton and we need to do the same tomorrow evening.
Are there any comebacks that you can remember, to use as inspiration?
Yeah, there are many comebacks. I was included in one in 2015/16 when we lost the game two-nil in Wolfsburg and we came to the Bernabeu and the team won three-zero. I saw the other day, Chelsea against Napoli. They lost 3-1 at Napoli and then at Stamford Bridge they game back. Football is always surprising but we need to be ready more than 100% to complete a comeback.
How is it to play against a player you look up to in Modric?
It was nice but difficult because we were losing and it is never nice when you are losing a game and you have a hard time. It was nice to see him and play against him. I always prefer to have him in my team but in this moment we are against each other and we are ready to show our best tomorrow and to try to go through.
