An unexpected decision, but not too surprising to those who know Toni Kroos well. He hung his shoes at the top, with the image of an inestimable diamond.

FULFILL A PROMISE

Toni Kroos kept his promise. He always said that he would retire from his football career at the highest level, and things are happening like that. The German midfielder announced this Tuesday (May 21), via his personal podcast, that this is his last season playing .

Kroos will attend the Champions League final with Real Madrid on June 1 in London, against Dortmund. After that, he defended the German team colors again at EURO 2024, where his journey on the field officially ended. At age 34 and after one of the best seasons of his career, he stopped.

“I thought for months about what to do. The truth is that there are always pros and cons, but I firmly believe that it is what I want. It was the right decision for me” , Toni said in a speech in Spanish that lasted more than 4 minutes.

The farewell of the 2014 World Cup champion and five Champions League champions took place exactly as he had planned long ago. He sought a farewell as high as possible.

“I always want that, if in a few years you talk about Toni Kroos, you will remember what kind of person I am. I always want to live worthy of what I have now and I still say that often. That: when I leave Madrid, I will leave football” , Kroos explained.

The star wearing the number 8 shirt emphasized: “People say I can play for a few more years and maybe I can, but I don’t want to push myself to the point where they think why am I still here, that I’m no longer qualified, or not classy enough, I’m suitable for the bench… So I want to end at the best time. And the best time is now “ .

He made plans to retire in Madrid and now spends more time with his family. ” You can do more, but I understand your plan” , Vinicius Junior said goodbye to the man whose classy assist allowed him to score against Bayern Munich, in the first leg of the semi-finals. Champions League at Allianz Arena.

FOOTBALL THINKER

As the team’s thought leader in handling the ball, the German now joins the small list of players who have decided to forego the prime of their career. When many of Toni’s colleagues always sought to renew each year, he proactively left everything when he was being praised the most. Or to be exact, he hung up his shoes because of that.

It was the farewell of a player born and raised in an austere house in a mid-range city in the former East Germany, with many medieval architecture (Greifswald), where he devoted both his childhood and youth. his for the ball.

Kroos always plays football with his younger brother Felix (a former player, less successful), under the guidance of his father Roland – a former coach and player.

For them, football is almost the only thing, sometimes even more of a priority than going to class. Far from the pragmatic and tidy adult he later presented himself as – “a German” , as Carlo Ancelotti defined it just a few days ago – Birgit’s mother revealed in the documentary “Kroos”. . Family and football’ that as a child his personality was “wild and intense” .

Last year, when his contract was about to expire, his continuity was one of the unknowns for Real Madrid and president Florentino Perez until the last moment.

In the end, he renewed for another season, but the main intention was still not to prolong his career too long. Three months ago, in an exclusive chat about his future, Kroos revealed that his career was causing him more difficulties than he initially thought.

“I started my professional career very young, 17 years old, at Bayern. I thought it would last 15 years and that was it. But the fact that I still have the desire and motivation surprised me more than my body me” , he explained at the time, while assuring that no decision had been made.

Kroos accumulated 22 titles in 10 seasons playing at the Bernabeu (4 Champions League, 4 La Liga, 1 King’s Cup, 5 FIFA Club World Cups, 4 European Super Cups and 4 Spanish Super Cups).

The final in London is just over a week away and he yearns to carry out his final historic mission in Madrid: to equal Paco Gento as the winningest player, lifting the “Orejona” 6 times ( the name of the Champions League trophy in Spanish; he has another victory with Bayern Munich).

Dani Carvajal, Nacho and Luka Modric are also pursuing the same goal. All 5 titles they won were tied to Madrid.

With Munich previously, he also won 3 Bundesliga championships and 3 German Cups, after being loaned for a year and a half at Leverkusen (2009-2010).

There, where Xabi Alonso is the brightest star, he develops continuously with master coach Jupp Heynckes. He gave Toni absolute trust, before they met again in Bavaria and brought Bayern to the treble in the 2012-13 season.

SPACE FOR MADRID

Kroos’s farewell was the answer to one of the doubts that Real Madrid faced at the end of the season. Modric, Nacho and Lucas Vázquez are other cases whose contracts also ended.

However, Kroos’s case is the most sensitive because it greatly affects the team’s tactics and victory. Starting the season on the bench, the German player became more necessary than ever in the fiercest competition period.

Since arriving at the Bernabeu in 2014, after the 2014 World Cup, for 25 million euros and making his debut in the European Super Cup in Cardiff, he has become a mainstay for all the coaches chosen by Perez (Ancelotti, Zinedine Zidane – same 2 terms, Rafa Benitez, Julen Lopetegui, Santiago Solari). This season alone, what he showed was so great that Julian Nagelsmann convinced Toni to return to the German team after 3 years of absence.

Aided by the physicality of the young players, Kroos benefits from a team structure that enhances his organizational skills, as well as reducing the workload in the defensive phase. Ancelotti designed the perfect outfit for him.

In the short term, Kroos’s farewell creates a hole in the Real Madrid squad due to his tactical weight. Except for the minutes that Modric can still contribute if he renews (the sides have reached some mutual agreement, he is about to turn 39 years old), the current squad lacks a capable factor. creates rhythm for the music that Carletto develops.

“If Toni wants the team to play slowly, we all go slow,” Casemiro, who currently plays for MU, explained a few years ago. “If you want the ball to move faster, we will move faster. He decides everything” .

Kroos’ performance less than a month ago in Munich, in the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals, mirrored what Casemiro described. His passes helped Real Madrid gain an important advantage from a shaky start to the match.

The end of Kroos’s adventure is coming, in less than 2 months. Toni wants to leave at the top, so it will be very special if he wins the European championship at club and national team level: victory in London on June 1, then the EURO final in Berlin on July 14.