Luka Modric is a player who carries the hopes of his nation.
The brilliant Croatian midfielder who helped Real Madrid win yet another Champions League title this year, will tomorrow try and inspire his nation to a World Cup Final win over France in Moscow.
There have been many stories about Modric's astonishing upbringing published this week. Many have focused on the execution of his grandfather - also named Luka - when he was only six years old and the fact that his family home was burned down, forcing them to live in a hotel as conflict raged around them.
Now rarely seen documentary footage of Modric has emerged online. Film-maker Pavle Balenovic uploaded his film about wolves to YouTube and he recently discovered that one of the boys featured is the Croatian captain. If you scroll to 2minutes 30 seconds on the video, a boy is seen waving a stick, herding goats.
Explaining the documentary, Balenovic states: "From my childhood I was impressed by nature and animals. I admired the wild animals, wolves especially. As I started to travel, I gathered a decent knowledge and experience. I met people from the places where wolves lived.
"Down to the south by the old stone road the house of Modric (Jasenice) was located. The Modric family, they used to be quite decent, nice people. I visited them whenever I went filming the wildlife in the mountains. So I took the shots of my friend and his son collecting their herd of goats, closing the pen and some scenes directed as It was planned for editing a wolf documentary. It was back in 1990 just a while before the war destroyed their home.
"The war changed everything and I haven’t seen any more. They moved away. Then just a few years ago I got some information on who the small boy collecting his father's herd in my episode is? That boy became a famous Croatian soccer player - Luka Modric. He haven't seen these shots (taken back in 1989-1990) because this is the first time they are published. After the war a lot of mines were left what destroyed the image of whole the mountain area. Today the area changed even more."
Modric has the chance to add another chapter to his incredible story in the World Cup Final on Sunday.
