Toni Kroos’ retirement might shock some, but it fits his history with Real Madrid

Toni Kroos’ musical tastes are known to lean more towards Robbie Williams than Frank Sinatra, but the German and Real Madrid midfielder’s formidable career is best summed up by one of the American crooner’s best-known classics.

From choosing to play in the same white shoes he cleaned himself every day for nearly a decade, changing the fundamentals of his game to becoming a key cog in four League titles champions, until deciding his own path, Kroos has always done it his way.

The 34-year-old announced via Instagram on Tuesday that his final match for Real Madrid would be the Champions League final against Borussia Dortmund on June 1. And that he would hang it up for good after representing Germany at home. ground at this summer’s European Championship.

Kroos has followed careful plans, made on his own terms, at every stage of his career – from bursting onto the scene as a precocious teenage playmaker, winning player of the tournament at the Euros under 17s in 2006 and at the same age. Group World Cup the following year.

He became Bayern Munich’s youngest Bundesliga player when he broke into the team at the age of 17 years and 265 days, providing two assists on his debut in September 2007. He could nevertheless see the advantage of spending 18 months on loan as a regular starter at Bayer. Leverkusen before returning to Bayern, set to play a key role in their first Champions League victory in 2013. The following summer, he was already a World Cup winner with Germany and, at 24, he shows determination in charting a path out of Munich. join Madrid.

Kroos had been happy under Pep Guardiola, but felt the Bayern hierarchy had not valued his contribution enough by offering more money to international teammate Mario Gotze. So he forced a cut-price €25m (£21.3m; $27.1m at current rates) move to Spain – which turned out to be one of the best deals of the history of football transfers.

At Bayern under Jupp Heynckes and Guardiola, and in Germany under Joachim Low, Kroos was more of a number 10, or at least an attacking midfielder, without too many defensive responsibilities. This would never have worked in Madrid. With Gareth’s ‘BBC’ offensive trident Bbeer, Karim Bthe enzyme and VSristiano Ronaldo at his peak, the team needed balance further back.

Welcomed by Carlo Ancelotti, then in his first stint as Madrid coach, Kroos moved straight into directing traffic from a new, deeper role. This meant regularly throwing Ronaldo and Bale on the counterattack, while accepting greater defensive responsibilities.

“(Ancelotti) trusted me from the start in a position where I hadn’t played much before,” Kroos said in February 2015. “Playing in the center of midfield is difficult. You have to be versatile, good with and without the ball, defending well, launching attacks and being strong in challenges It’s a difficult position to be in. I’m trying to overcome my weaknesses. I’m working.

This work continued to bear fruit. After the departure of Ancelotti at the end of 2014-2015 and the departure of Rafa Benitez in January 2016, Zinedine Zidane promoted Brazilian midfielder Casemiro to join Kroos and Luka Modric in an ideally balanced triangle.

This trio became the cornerstone of the team that won three consecutive Champions League finals under Zidane from 2016 to 2018, rivaling Barcelona’s Sergio Busquets, Xavi and Andres Iniesta as the best midfielder in the modern era. Kroos didn’t copy anyone: he always had his own way of playing.

It helped that he was inside the Santiago Bernabeu to appreciate how he would take control of a match, regularly coming further out, moving back into Madrid’s half, finding space to the left of the center circle where he knew his rivals would have a hard time rushing him. From there, he could use his range of short and long distance passing to find his teammates around the field and twist defenses.

Kroos continued to adapt his game over time.

He was never a Casemiro-style destroyer on defense, neither being fast nor particularly strong, but he made up for that with his ability to read the game and sense what his opponents were up to. When Ronaldo and Bale were replaced in a new Madrid team by Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo, Kroos himself adapted, notably with early balls into space on the left to exploit Vinicius Jr’s pace.

Even after he was over 30, Kroos always wanted to play. He made no secret of his disappointment when he wasn’t given a full 90 minutes in big games – and was particularly unhappy when Zidane left him on the bench for an entire League quarter-final first leg champions against Manchester City in 2020.

But he also had the intelligence and self-knowledge to realize that he was no longer as physically capable as he once was. After being criticized when Germany exited Euro 2020 (delayed to summer 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic) against England in the round of 16, he announced his international retirement, knowing that this would help prolong his career at a high level club.

His relationship with Ancelotti, a midfielder at the time he played, has always been very close.

The wily Italian has managed the transition into Madrid’s middle third, keeping Kroos and Modric on board not only as key players, but also as useful examples for a new generation consisting of Federico Valverde, Eduardo Camavinga and Aurélien Tchouameni. Kroos’ status within the club was also clear as one of the few players to speak one-on-one with club officials. It didn’t happen often, but he was listened to when he had a point to make.

That’s not to say Kroos particularly appreciated Ancelotti often replacing him in the second half of big games, especially during Madrid’s incredible comebacks from 2021-22 Champions League success – his fourth title in the competition with the club and the fifth of his career. Former Madrid striker Paco Gento, who died aged 88 in January 2022, is the only player to have won the European Cup six times – a record that Dani Carvajal, Nacho and Modric could also equal at Wembley next month.

There was drama in the latter stages of last season, as Kroos’ contract entered its final months. Nobody knew if he was really about to end his ties with the club, or even with the game. It seemed unthinkable when he was sublime in both matches as Madrid beat Liverpool 6-2 and then Chelsea 4-0 on aggregate in the Champions League last 16 last season.

There were real fears at the Bernabeu then that he might stop playing after he and his teammates were overtaken by Manchester City in the semi-final, followed by relief when he finally signed for another year.

Last February, the decision was made to return with the German national team to play the Euro 2024 final at home.

Some players may have wondered how they would be received in such circumstances, but Kroos remained firm in his beliefs. National coach Julian Nagelsmann welcomed him with open arms, even if it meant rebalancing the team. Almost everyone admitted that their chances of success at home this summer had been immediately improved – except for some at Bayern who were still hurting from the way he left them a decade ago.

Just a few weeks ago, when Kroos returned to Munich with Madrid and put in a superb individual performance in midfield against his former team, it once again seemed unreal that he was ever going to call it quits . The assist for Vinicius Jr’s first goal was a trademark. Replays showed how he spotted the opportunity and told Vinicius Jr where to run before timing and weighting his pass perfectly.

Ahead of another Champions League final for Kroos and Madrid against Dortmund, sentiment was growing in the Spanish capital that Kroos would stay for at least one more season. Club president Florentino Perez and Ancelotti both really wanted him to renew, as did his teammates. When a branch of the Toni Kroos Academy recently opened near his home in the Spanish capital, it was seen as a welcome sign that he planned to stay for a while longer.

Even though he didn’t play as many full matches as he did earlier in his career, Kroos’ numbers on the pitch still held up. His passing accuracy for the 2023-24 La Liga season was 94.5 percent. He hasn’t dipped below 93.5 percent over the last five campaigns – which is particularly impressive given he rarely plays safe balls to a teammate alongside him, instead taking risks with passes longer, changes of play and incisive actions through the opposing lines.

Athleticism reported that Kroos himself had had doubts in recent months about continuing, even though he felt well physically and mentally. He always told his agents not to consider any other options. It was stay in Madrid or nothing.

Eventually, Kroos informed the club hierarchy that he would not renew his contract. Ancelotti received a warning – barely 24 hours old – via a phone call on Monday.

At Madrid’s Valdebebas training ground, the reactions were eloquent. “We are devastated,” said a source who, like everyone cited here, preferred to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to comment. “He’s the best I’ve ever seen,” said another.

But Kroos, as often before, did things his own way.

He will have few, if any, regrets about how his career turned out. And he never seemed worried about saying or doing what he really felt.

“I am happy and proud that I found the right moment in my mind for my decision and that I was able to choose it myself,” he said in his announcement Tuesday. “My ambition has always been to finish my career at the peak of my performance level. From now on, there is only one guiding thought: a por la 15 (let’s go for the 15th Champions League title)!

Additional reporting: Mario Cortegana and Guillermo Rai

(Top photo: Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)