Croatia’s Luka Modric (AP/PTI) Luka Modric’s exit from the World Cup stage and, with it, possibly international football as well, did not turn out to be the beau idéal or a perfect 10, a number he has so adoringly and alluringly made his own over the years. The end was, though, dramatic — and cruel….

Croatia’s Luka Modric (10) and Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo (7) greet each other (AP) Two celestial bodies orbited each other, a thousand cameras waited with bated breath, pausing for them to come together. As Luka Modric, destroyed after a soul-crushing defeat that ended a scintillating two-decade-old international career, acknowledged the wishes of his Portuguese rivals, Cristiano…