World Cup winner Toni Kroos has already lifted the Champions League once in his career but the 25-year-old Germany international is determined to taste success in the competition once again. The Real Madrid star faces city rivals Athletico in the first leg of their quarter final this evening (20:45 CEST).
It didn’t take long for him to become a key component of Real’s side – he slotted in with relative ease, despite having played pretty much constantly for over a year.
Title hoarder with FC Bayern
The past 12 months have been incredibly busy, but also hugely successful for the midfielder. He’s played plenty of games and barely had time to catch his breath. Whilst still with FC Bayern, who he left to join Real in summer, he lifted the Bundesliga and DFB Cup in 2014. After a European training camp he then headed to Brazil to play in the World Cup, which his side won in Rio. Kroos then returned to Germany before joining Real Madrid, where he has instantly become a key player. In short, he’s had little holiday but remains at the top of his game.
Constant feature
He continues to play – Kroos has averaged 87 minutes per game in the Primera División this season, more than any other player at the club. In addition to this he has appeared frequently in the domestic cup and the Championship League. And for Germany. Despite all of this action, Kroos says that he isn’t tired as “he is feeling fit and fresh.”
“I want to play as often as possible,” said Kroos ahead of the recent international against Georgia. This game was a clear demonstration of just how fresh he is. You would expect mistakes to creep into the game of players who have played so frequently, however, this wasn’t the case with the midfielder. The 25-year-old was important in the match: He ran 11.2km, touched the ball 387 times and played 152 passes, 92.16% of which reached their intended recipient.
Kroos: "2014 will always be a highlight"
World Cup winner Toni Kroos has already lifted the Champions League once in his career but the 25-year-old Germany international is determined to taste success in the competition once again. The Real Madrid star faces city rivals Athletico in the first leg of their quarter final this evening (20:45 CEST).
It didn’t take long for him to become a key component of Real’s side – he slotted in with relative ease, despite having played pretty much constantly for over a year.
Title hoarder with FC Bayern
The past 12 months have been incredibly busy, but also hugely successful for the midfielder. He’s played plenty of games and barely had time to catch his breath. Whilst still with FC Bayern, who he left to join Real in summer, he lifted the Bundesliga and DFB Cup in 2014. After a European training camp he then headed to Brazil to play in the World Cup, which his side won in Rio. Kroos then returned to Germany before joining Real Madrid, where he has instantly become a key player. In short, he’s had little holiday but remains at the top of his game.
Constant feature
He continues to play – Kroos has averaged 87 minutes per game in the Primera División this season, more than any other player at the club. In addition to this he has appeared frequently in the domestic cup and the Championship League. And for Germany. Despite all of this action, Kroos says that he isn’t tired as “he is feeling fit and fresh.”
“I want to play as often as possible,” said Kroos ahead of the recent international against Georgia. This game was a clear demonstration of just how fresh he is. You would expect mistakes to creep into the game of players who have played so frequently, however, this wasn’t the case with the midfielder. The 25-year-old was important in the match: He ran 11.2km, touched the ball 387 times and played 152 passes, 92.16% of which reached their intended recipient.
Kroos: "2014 will always be a highlight"
This is often the case when Kroos plays for Germany. He made his debut for the DFB Team on 3rd March 2010 in a friendly against Argentina, which was played in Munich. He replaced Thomas Müller in the 67th minute that evening and played his first passes soon after. 3,544 have followed since then – they haven’t all been successful, but plenty of them were.
Kroos is crucial to Germany’s style of football. He attempted 1,507 passes during last year’s World Cup, 90.8% of which were successful, and averaged 112 touches of the ball. This didn’t go unnoticed: He was named Germany’s Player of the Year by the official fan club. “It was a fantastic year. I won the double with Bayern, the World Cup before joining Real and winning the Super Cup and the World Club Championship. 2014 will always be a highlight for me. Being named player of the year was the icing on the cake,” said Kroos.
Ancelotti: "Toni moves the ball quickly and plays the right passes"
Kroos has fulfilled his personal expectations during his first year at Real Madrid and has surpassed those of the supporters and the club. He arrived as a World Champion, a star and an award winner but he quickly became integrated into the side. He is without a doubt one of the most important players in Carlo Ancelotti’s squad at the moment. “Toni moves the ball quickly and plays the right passes, he rarely loses possession and often wins it back,” explained Ancelotti. “His passes and thought process helps us play the way we want to.”
Bitter defeats against Barca and Athletico
Kroos has impressed fans, colleagues, the head coach and the media this season, however there have been setbacks. Real lost to rivals Barcelona, suffered a 4-0 defeat to Athletico and were beaten 4-3 in the Champions League by Schalke 04. The team were criticised after all of these games and Kroos was not exempt from their comments. After the Athletico game one newspaper claimed that he is “not quick enough and has no special moments.”
Kroos isn’t overly fussed by this, however. “In Spain it’s quite extreme,” but he doesn’t let any criticism get the better of him: “I know that there are more important things in life than football. If you don’t win a game, so be it.” Even his biggest achievement is nothing more than a win to him. “I never felt under pressure to win the World Cup. I would still be the same person and in the same mood as I am now if we hadn’t lifted the trophy,” he added.
He feels that his greatest achievement surrounds his family. Football is important, but so is life: He has a girlfriend (Jessica) and a son (Leon), but is also close to his parents, brother and dogs. His father, Roland, was a head coach and is now in charge of the academy at Hansa Rostock; his brother, Felix, plays for Werder Bremen. When asked what his talents are away from the game, he said that “I’m quite good at being a father. That’s also the most important talent I have.”
