{"id":63459,"date":"2026-08-02T16:04:26","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T16:04:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/63459\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T16:04:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T16:04:26","slug":"calcio-italiano-ac-milans-croatian-superstar-luka-modric-greeted-by-large-crowd-at-perth-airport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/63459\/","title":{"rendered":"Calcio Italiano: AC Milan\u2019s Croatian superstar Luka Modric greeted by large crowd at Perth Airport"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Italian football fever is sweeping through Perth, with AC Milan\u2019s Croatian superstar Luka Modric touching down amid a throng of fanfare ahead of his side\u2019s marquee match-up at Optus Stadium this week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">It comes mere hours after his club\u2019s bitter cross-town rivals Inter Milan were also greeted by a noisy welcome upon their arrival in Perth as the week-long Calcio Italiano football festival prepares to kick-off.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">The star-laden squads of both AC and Inter Milan have now fully assembled in Perth ahead of Wednesday\u2019s clash at Optus Stadium, a rare \u2018Derby della Madonnina\u2019 to take place outside of Italy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">And it is midfield maestro Modric \u2014 who won the sport\u2019s highest individual honour, the Ballon d\u2019Or, in 2018 \u2014 whose presence is the icing on the cake for local fans, after the 40 year-old touched down for his first training since appearing at a fifth World Cup.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/8b6b6b64b877e82227365c61aec01a9b0f83d5b9.jpg\" alt=\"Modric is whisked away by Milan staff. \" class=\"css-16r7l45-StyledImage en5ut4d0\"\/>Camera IconModric is whisked away by Milan staff.  Credit: Iain Gillespie\/The West Australian<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Fans decked in Croatian jerseys lined the arrival hall at Perth Airport as the veteran received a rousing reception, as fans chanted his name and clamoured for selfies and autographs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Modric, who is the most-decorated player in global giants\u2019 Real Madrid\u2019s history and just extended his stay with the club for another season, was quickly whisked away by Milan minders.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Earlier on Sunday, Inter fans had raised a ruckus outside their team\u2019s hotel, braving the city\u2019s morning chill to give their side a similarly loud welcome upon their arrival.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/147661cf18f10468c87c0c507f9a2d3b481f8889.jpg\" alt=\"Modric arrives at Perth Airport. \" class=\"css-16r7l45-StyledImage en5ut4d0\"\/>Camera IconModric arrives at Perth Airport.  Credit: Iain Gillespie\/The West Australian<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Fans banged on the doors of the lobby and stood outside chanting for their heroes after the reigning Italian league champions jetted in ahead of their two games in Perth.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Inter and AC Milan will go head-to-head on Wednesday night, before Inter\u2019s other big rival Juventus \u2014 the most successful team in Italian history \u2014 will face them at the same stadium on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Juventus will then round out the slate of games when they take on Serie B outfit Palermo at HBF Park next Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Italian football fever is sweeping through Perth, with AC Milan\u2019s Croatian superstar Luka Modric touching down amid a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63460,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[335,79,261],"class_list":["post-63459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-perth","tag-perth","tag-soccer","tag-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}