This was not the first time Toni Kroos has played in a Champions League semi-final between Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.
Twelve years ago, he was also involved in the fixture that has become the most-played in the competition’s history, albeit playing for the other club and playing an entirely different role. Back then, Kroos was a talented 22-year-old playmaker who was deployed as a No 10 off Mario Gomez. He interpreted the role in an interesting way, coming short to overload the midfield and help Bayern control the game.
There was an interesting contrast with another German No 10 on the pitch, Real Madrid’s Mesut Ozil, who stayed higher and wanted to receive the ball on the run. Kroos exerted more influence and Bayern progressed to the final, albeit after a penalty shootout.
These days, that feels like an entirely different Toni Kroos. The year after that game, Kroos found himself coached by Pep Guardiola, who moved him deeper and helped transform his game. “Pep is an amazing person, a very special coach and stands out among all the great coaches I worked under,” Kroos once said, but he said this upon his decision to leave Guardiola’s Bayern, joining Real Madrid in the aftermath of an excellent 2014 World Cup.
At Real, Kroos had to play a supporting role. He was often deployed in the holding position in front of the defence, initially with great success, although the emergence of Casemiro and the desire for sturdiness in midfield meant Kroos was shifted left. And while it feels like a player of his class deserves a purely central role, either as the Andrea Pirlo or the Kaka figure, to use a previous Carlo Ancelotti side, Kroos has come to dominate that left-centre role like no other player of this generation.
The second leg against Bayern on Wednesday was a good demonstration of how that role works for Kroos. He continually dropped deep towards a position no Bayern player wanted to follow. Right-winger Leroy Sane was watching left-back Ferland Mendy. No 10 Jamal Musiala was primarily concerned with Aurelien Tchouameni. Kroos had no direct opponent, with Harry Kane broadly positioning himself between the opposition defence and midfield, theoretically blocking off balls into Kroos but doing nothing to stop him.
Here’s a typical situation. Nacho is on the ball and the next pass is obvious. Jude Bellingham is pointing towards Kroos. Mendy is pointing towards Kroos. Kroos was always free.
From there, Kroos dominated the game. His primary pass was switching the ball out to Dani Carvajal on the right, a ball he played on multiple occasions. It was notable how driven these passes were — Carvajal wasn’t always in a huge amount of space, but the speed of the pass ensured the balls were never intercepted.
And Kroos can play those balls left-footed, too, like this switch to Mendy — although he lacks the power with his left foot and opponents can shuffle across more quickly and make life difficult for the player receiving the pass.
Playing to the left also allowed Kroos to combine with Real’s two most dangerous attackers. In the first half, he played some neat passes into Bellingham, whose starting position was from the left of a midfield square. And Kroos is unquestionably Real’s playmaker. Tchouameni keeps things tidy and Federico Valverde is more about driving forward into attack so Kroos can play more expansive passes. This ball, intended for Bellingham, was a good example — Bellingham points for the pass, makes the run, but Matthijs de Ligt does well to spot Bellingham’s run and intercepts.
And the more the game continued, the more Real’s front three — seemingly given license to play wherever they wanted — congregated towards the left of the pitch. That’s where they were likely to receive good forward passes.
In the second half, Bellingham played more centrally, with Vinicius Junior drawing wide to the left and repeatedly terrorising Joshua Kimmich with his dribbling.
Kroos’ relationship with Vinicius Jr was more apparent in the first leg, when his brilliant through-ball, combined with Vinicius Jr’s double movement to escape the attentions of Kim Min-jae, brought the opener.
The one thing lacking from Kroos’ performance here was a similarly penetrative ball. There was, however, an example of Kroos’ trademark move — his deliberate “heavy touch” when receiving the ball, allowing him to get space away from an opponent.
This is classic Kroos. Before receiving this pass, he looked up and checked the position of Bellingham, knowing where he wanted to play the ball.
Antonio Rudiger passed the ball toward Kroos, which prompted Konrad Laimer to spring forward, running directly at Kroos.
Kroos, as always, didn’t control the ball with the outside of his preferred right foot but let the ball run across his body to his left. This meant the direction of Laimer’s run changed slightly, anticipating that Kroos might dribble towards his left. But Kroos actually knocked the ball inside with his left foot, changing direction suddenly and leaving Laimer going in the wrong direction.
That simple move opened up an easy pass into Bellingham between the lines.
Laimer then sprinted back into position, bundled Bellingham over, and Rodrygo had a decent effort from a free kick, which Manuel Neuer saved well. And it all came from Kroos’ favourite manner of controlling the ball.
Kroos’ influence waned a little in the second half of the second leg. Kane was evidently told to keep an eye on him and at 34, Kroos increasingly struggles to complete 90 minutes. Luka Modric, for so long his equivalent in a right-of-centre midfield role, is often now his replacement instead.
Overall, Ancelotti is managing Kroos’ minutes well. Injuries aren’t an issue. He’s been available for every league game this season and was only rested completely for the first time this season in February for the short trip to Getafe because Real had the derby against Atletico three days later — and in that game, Kroos was the best player. He was also rested against Mallorca to keep him fresh for the crucial 3-2 Clasico victory over Barcelona last month, which effectively clinched the title. In fact, Kroos has only lost once all season, in the first league meeting against Atletico, a 3-1 defeat, and even then he scored an excellent low drive from outside the box. Overall, approaching a decade at Real, Kroos has never played fewer than 42 games for them in a campaign.
Kroos now has the opportunity to join Real’s legendary left-winger of the 1960s, Paco Gento, on a record six European Cup victories. His team-mates Dani Carvajal, Nacho and Luka Modric would also reach that landmark. Whereas all six of their triumphs have come with Real, Kroos can also count the 2013 European Cup win with Bayern. That said, Kroos didn’t actually play in that final, having been ruled out through injury. The venue was Wembley and the opposition was Dortmund.
A decade on, Kroos is faced with the same venue and the same opposition, but he is now a very different player.
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