Zagreb  - Croatian Football Federation president Vlatko Markovic said he believed there could be an English conspiracy to injure his country's leading internationals.

His comments, reported in the Croatian media on Tuesday, have followed a leg fracture suffered by Tottenham Hotspur's Luka Modric in a Premier League match with Birmingham on Saturday.

Modric, regarded as Croatia's most influential player, will now be out of Croatia's World Cup qualifying match against England next week.

A year and a half ago Croatia's Arsenal striker Eduardo da Silva suffered a broken leg in a duel with Birmingham's Martin Taylor.

There is still ill-feeling among some Croatian fans as a result of the injury which forced Eduardo to miss the European Championships last year.

The fact that two players have suffered leg fractures against the same club prompted Markovic to question whether Croatian players were being deliberately targeted.

"When I heard what happened to Luka I just could not believe it," he said.

"This is terrible and I don't know if someone is really after us. First Eduardo, now Luka Modric. Both two top class players.

"Now I'm beginning to think that all this was done on purpose before the duel with England."

Markovic said that midfielder Modric's injury was far more serious for the national team than Eduardo's.

"Modric is the key player of the team, he is the alpha and omega," he said, adding he was as important for Croatia as Andres Andres Iniesta to Barcelona or Michael Ballack for Germany.

"Without Modric we are week, that is evident. He is impossible to replace. However, we have to keep our chin up and continue," he said.

Birmingham chairman David Gold has rejected Markovic's claims.

"He needs to go and have a lie down," he was reported by British media as saying.

"His comments are absolutely idiotic. They are ridiculous and insulting.

"To say such things is little short of incredible. For a man of such stature and position in the game to come out with such rubbish is pathetic.

"His remarks border on paranoia and I struggle not to take it personally when they two incidents he talks about involve my club. To lay such stuff at Birmingham's door is appalling. It's emotive and doesn't stand up to close scrutiny." (dpa)