This was the biggest challenge of Jordan Henderson’s career. The challenge of stopping the best midfielder on the planet in a World Cup semi-final.

The fact that Henderson was probably England’s best player and yet was pushed to the absolute limit showed just how good Luka Modric is. The fact Modric got even better when Henderson went off showed how well the Liverpool captain did.

The legs were tired, the hamstring was tight but Henderson strained himself to try and not give in to that even if he was stretched to breaking point with the workload demanded of him.

In the first-half time and again Henderson just got himself in front of Modric enough to stop him opening England up. Modric worked his way into the penalty area, shaped to shoot, cross, or cut the ball back but Henderson jockeyed and blocked and made the angle disappear. Then on half-time he did it again as Modric appeared to find the purchase for a shot – only for Henderson to thwart him.

Gareth Southgate did not change tack for this semi-final. He did not give in to the temptation to bring in Eric Dier and place himself alongside Henderson in a deeper, double pivot at the base of midfield to cope with Modric and Ivan Rakitic who have been the most accomplished pairing at this World Cup. Instead he made that adjustment with the personnel he had to reduce the space and eat up the turf around Modric.