Wherever we talk about Toni Kroos, we remember him steering Real Madrid’s midfield in their hat trick UCL run. But his last season with Real Madrid, according to many fans, was even better than those years we talk about. but his performance went underappreciated because he didn’t win any trophies. But what he did on the pitch was extraordinary.
You can either have a controller, who dictates the game by his passing, keeps possession to determine the tempo of the game with supreme positional sense; or have a progressive playmaker who influences the game with his direct playmaking like chances creation, passes into final third, carrying the ball and passes into the penalty box.
But rarely you can have a midfielder who can do both the jobs simultaneously in the same game as Kroos did last season. He isn’t as flashy as Spanish greats or his Croatian partner Modric, but he got the job done in all those regards.
Toni Kroos per 90 percentile ranks vs central midfielders in the last 365 days speaks volume. He has fared better than 99 per cent of midfielders throughout the season regarding key passes, passes into the final 3rd, passes completed, long passes completed, ball carries, progressive passes, and done better than the rest 98 per cent in terms of shot-creating actions and expected assists, according to FBref statistics.
He competed with Kevin De Bruyne in playmaking and simultaneously competed with the likes Verratti in dictating the game with his ever so flawless passing as the likes of Luis Alberto regarding carrying the ball.
As Real Madrid midfielder Casemiro perfectly described once, “Real Madrid matches always go in Kroos’ rhythm. He’s one of the most important players at the club because he manages the ball and the rhythm with which we play. If Toni wants to play slowly, we play slowly. If he wants us to play quicker, we play quicker.” Few players have ever so consistently, so accurately, and so efficiently moved their team into favourable attacking contexts regardless of the opposition’s approach like Kroos.
Toni Kroos has been second to none in his passing and distribution while creating a whole lot of opportunities for the team and also being one of the best in ball progression and build up. His highlight of the season would be the clásico against arch-rival Barcelona where he created the most chances for his team or the first leg in the UCL quarter-final against Liverpool where he completed more tackles than the entire Liverpool team in the first half.
He took up the challenge of whatever role the manager asked him to play and thrived in each. Kroos bossing the midfield has now become such frequent that people hardly even talk about it anymore.
It’s a shame that Kroos had one of the best seasons of his career, yet Real Madrid didn’t have the goal scoring punch in their forward line to capitalise on that. But, for true football fans, especially Real Madrid fans, along with Zidane’s tactical master classes against all those diversities of 60+ injuries, Modric and Benzema’s brilliant season, this Toni Kroos season will also always have a special place.
Although his reputation took a hit with an average 2018/19 season, Toni Kroos has resurrected in the last two seasons and how. Madrid fans will surely want Toni to continue this form for several more seasons.
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