M99 wrote:

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:He's been disgustingly underrated for years as I been saying lol.

People don't rate you if you don't have a flashy youtube highlights clip though.

Wonder what RG thinks of him now. Ever since he scored against Arsenal RG has been saying he is overrated.

Speaking of which, what are your thoughts on Modric

Haven't seen a game of him in years lol, but considering Madrid's results I'm not really going to argue anything that people here say.

Meh.

Casemiro and Modric are doing all the work. He's just there to give the ball to them.

Ever since he moved to Real, look how much they won... still underrated by some Funny that he didnt have room at Bayern when he was sold to Real.... how they must regret it...

Ever since he was sold Bayern has lost something

Magricos wrote:Ever since he was sold Bayern has lost something

a good midfielder maybe

Bayern didn't make enough of an effort to keep him. [Manchester] City and United also loved him and really wanted him but Madrid beat them to it by signing him for 25 million euros," said Reinartz.

"He is a friend of mine and I know the whole story. He was offered a new contract but he knew that [Mario] Gotze was also there and was roughly the same age as him and he wanted to be paid more.

"Bayern didn't want to pay him 10m euros and Rummenigge told Toni that he wasn't going to get that money because he wasn't a world class player.

"But Toni didn't leave over money, he needs the confidence of other people and Real recognised that. That's why he left."

Rumminege forever running his mouth about things he knows shit all about...

I'm sure Hans would say something condescending and uppity about Bayern's attempts to keep Toni and probably how it wasn't worth it anyway but I was always surprised that Bayern didn't try "harder" to keep him. Being that he is a Bayern product AND German.

I cant even hate. He's playing his best football right now. Undroppable.

Busquets made him look like an elite and explosive athlete at times

Perucho21 wrote:I cant even hate. He's playing his best football right now. Undroppable.

Shouldn't be hating to begin with. Kroos is awesome but seeing Kroos out run Busquets was actually funny.

Kroos tends to have great Clasicos always. You never see him flopping in Clasicos. That's because he is such an elite passer. He takes one touch and he's already scanned the whole pitch. Impossible to "press"

Yea n the fact that Roberto deciding to go way up just to push Vini and then proceeds to jog backwards meant it was pretty easy for u guys... basically doing TAA but worst all game vs Vini like the fastest player in the world XD

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:They apparently are gonna sell Di Maria. ( )

Anyway i look forward to seeing Nick and the majority of the forum actually doing a complete u-turn on Kroos.

Dem Moel prophecies, surprised to see most people weren't very happy with Kroos being signed.

Kroos wasn't very well liked in Bayern if I remember correct.

He was seen as a prospect at best as we must not forget his legacy was created in the capital itself.

Moal prophecies for some reason this year alone have come out to be true and I doubted this asshole for many of them as well.

Moal came through, hard to believe but it's true

I remember being shocked at Kroos going for peanuts, 20 something million so I assumed Guardiola just didn't want him.

Vibe wrote:Moal came through, hard to believe but it's true

I remember being shocked at Kroos going for peanuts, 20 something million so I assumed Guardiola just didn't want him.

Iirc Kroos didn't leave for sporting reasons, he left because he wanted economic parity with plebs like Götze who the board bet on to be the next face of Bayern. Pep wanted to hold onto him but Kroos felt disrespected and he sought to leave. Then Utd dwelled on him for too long and we swooped in and got him. You can out the peanuts we paid for him down to mismanagement by their board who criminally underrated him.

Retiring

Legend Shame though, certainly has more in the tank. But going on his terms at the top, there is something nice about that as well.

Remember him from the under 20 Euros I think from like 15 years ago. Time flies.

TONI KROOS OFFICIAL STATEMENT:

“July 17th, 2014 - the day of my presentation at Real Madrid, the day that changed my life. My life as a footballer - but especially as a person. It was the start of a new chapter at the biggest club in the world. After 10 years, at the end… pic.twitter.com/KIZU5bxTY8

— Madrid Zone (@theMadridZone) May 21, 2024

Good riddance.

Care to elaborate how can this be a good riddance?

Amazing player and he's still great imo. Based enough to retire on top with a CL win and not relocate his family in USA/Saudi Arabia.

Top 3 midfielder of his generation

Vibe wrote:Care to elaborate how can this be a good riddance?

This comes for me as a bit of a shock really. I was hoping he would continue playing for atleast 2-3 years

Phew, thought he might do a Modric n still be at it at freakin 38 or something That means Real completely relying on the new midfielders next season, which is quite surprising cos they dont have a controller like these two. Hopefully it might mean a weakness if there will be any in that damn sqaud

"When we say that Real Madrid is tactically the most versatile, in part it's because of Toni Kroos. When we say Real Madrid is the team who has best survived the era of high pressing, in part it's because of Toni Kroos. When we say that Real Madrid is the team that best understands the Champions League, in part it's because of Toni Kroos. Yes, we know Real Madrid has always been there, and that it will remain after the departure of Toni Kroos... as it has after the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos, Karim Benzema... but let's not underestimate the importance of such historic players as these, of such historic players like Toni Kroos, because Real Madrid has won so much essentially because it has had several of the greatest football players not in the world, but in history.

Real Madrid has what's most important, what's most valuable, what's most differential... its legend, but Real Madrid needs footballers who know how to use that legend on the pitch so that all rivals have the legend present, personified, up against them, in every single game, and Kroos has been one of those players, one of the chosen ones."

A quote from a beautiful tribute made today by arguably Spain's best current Football tactics personality, Miguel Quintana.



People can have their player preferences and think and argue otherwise, of course, but (particularly if they win their 6th Champions League in the next coming days) Kroos and Modric probably have the most complete technical and historical resumes to be crowned as the two greatest midfielders in the history of the European Cup. Kroos has possessed an incredible skillset, a skillset which, like those of Zidane, Modric, or Messi, like those of the greatest of greats, would have you think that they are operating within an invisible time warp bubble; the ability to create the illusion that time slows down to the tempo that they choose when they receive the ball, and accelerates to the rhythm of their choosing when they release it. Ah, but it's not an illusion.

His incredible technical-physical repertoire, which includes scintillating turning ability, ball control, and press resistance, has been guided by an internal homing beacon made up of a legendary vision, mentality, and character, and complemented by an equally as devastating passing range. As Quintana makes reference to, it is this legendary synthesis of talent that has made Kroos one of the chosen ones, a midfielder capable of being the engine and compass of any sort of team, with the quality and character to not just escape but engage in a dance with the highest of pressures, whether it be the high pressures of Jurgen Klopp, of Pep Guardiola, of the European Cup, or of... Real Madrid.

As always, Kroos, master of time and space, knows to release and let go of the ball, before the ball, lets go of him.

Unblinking.

sportsczy wrote:Good riddance.

What's your view on him as a player, im curious. i kinda agree with you on the fact that Kroos retirement will be a net positive for Madrid.

I see a lot of praise for him in media but it might be due to recency bias, people tend to only remember his amazing games and forget when he had absolute stinkers. me personally i think his influence on the pitch is overstated to a high degree, yes he has insane passing range and clearly talented in that aspect but other than that he's a very limited player, in recent years he has gotten super slow and static, not only it hurts our dynamism in the center of the pitch, it also forces all other players to cover more ground to make up for his lack of physicality.

Plus Kroos leaving means Jude can finally play in his natural position, i continue to believe playing him in CAM is a waste of his talent, he's a good goalscorer but that's it, he's definitely no Ozil or Kaka.