Ok, we all agree that Modrić is a great soccer player and that his significance for the Croatian national team is very important.
However, we must be aware that his career is coming to an end and that it is becoming increasingly difficult for him physically to keep up with the condensed rhythm of a large number of matches in various club and national team matches.
It is an open secret that Real are not very happy with Modrić's desire to continue playing for the Croatian national team.
On the other hand, Dalić should slowly start preparing the team for the time after Modrić and prepare the national team's game for that period.
Otherwise, the situation from the beginning of 2000 could be repeated, when the change of generations was not done well and gradually, and there was a big drop in the game and results of the Croatian national team.
Well, dude is 500 years old, so him not resting during the summer period is a tough thing, if he keeps playing for the national team at that age, the risk of him getting injured increases, and as the team that pays his salary, they have all the right not want him to get injured.
I understand the logic behind it, because that's not going to be easy in the end to find out he got injured, but if he is not injured even in that case he would not be rested and he would still have a higher chance to get injured during club period, due to stress he put on his body. At that age he should retire from national team and just focus on the club, and not even play all games there, no cup games, and most league games exception of some simple ones, and play in all UCL games. So more like 40-45 games a year is more than enough.