Toni Kroos returned to his home until 2014 and, at the age of 34 and with his future up in the air, give an exhibition in the semi-finals of the Champions and signal assistance for Vinícius Junior’s 0-1 and a match in which he exceeded his average number of passes attempted and the percentage of good passes.
An outstanding performance, especially in the first half where he was at fault, with Lunin stopping one-on-one with Sané in the first minute, of the white team continuing on the scoreboard.
He overcame Bayern Munich’s massive start, with more energy, timing the game with a Toni Kroos inserted himself between the centre-backs to give his team peace of mind on the ball. And with the rhythm balanced, the German appeared to invent an assist for ‘Vini’, leaving him alone in a one-on-one with Neuer.
Kroos pointed the gap to the Brazilian, who latched onto the back of Kim Min-jae and made it 0-1. Vinícius was the scorer, but the goal was on the boot of Kroos. The proof of this is that up to six colleagues embraced the German then than a ‘Vini’ who, returning to his field after the celebration, bowed to his companion in gratitude.
A game changing moment. Unexpectedly, as Thomas Tuchel warned a few days before, and where Kroos is the metronome. The culmination of the first half where he missed only one pass and where he was more than the others.
In the 75 minutes he was on the pitch, Toni Kroos attempted 82 passes and completed 79 (96.34% correct). He only missed three. Numbers that exceed their averages, per 90 minutes, so far this season. The German made 81.32 passes, of which he completed 77.21 (94.94% success rate).
The only passing statistic that didn’t improve was long passes. He averaged 10.04 this season and against Bayern he gave away ‘just’ seven – completing six. In addition, the German also stood out in individual duels in the middle of the fieldwon five of the seven he played.
With the help of Vinicius, Kroos now has eight this seasonhis best record since the 12 he gave in 2020-2021 and has at least six games – which could be seven if Real Madrid qualify for the Champions League finals – to end the season.
Furthermore, the assist for ‘Vini’ marked his 14th Champions League assist since his arrival at Real Madrid in 2014, placing him as the second midfielder with most assists in the competition since then, only 15 have been surpassed Ilkay Gundogan.
Numbers that do not refer to leaving football, but Kroos himself leaves his future up in the air. He has already warned that Real Madrid will be his last club, and his contract will expire on June 30. A continuation that depends on him, as the club has offered him another year of contract. However, it is still left up in the air.
With a short “no” and a subsequent smile he answered in the mixed zone of the Allianz Arena whether he had made a decision about his future. “I’m in a good moment. “I want to win as much as possible this season and I don’t think about the future,” he added later.
Some words that fuel doubt and that contrast with his performance on the field of play, being mainly with a Real Madrid that values the Liga title and is one game away from reaching the Champions League finalsin addition to confirming his return to the German team for the Euro Cup.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
