“All the credit goes to Vinicius. He opened up the space, and maybe it wasn’t that special.” This is how Toni Kroos described the brilliant assist he offered to his Brazilian teammate last Tuesday in Munich, in the semi-final first leg of the Champions League (2-2). Ask Federico Valverde to give him the ball, direct his body for a left pass, to finally succeed in a precise opening from the right from almost 30 meters, almost indicating the direction of the call to the receiver. And trivialize everything upon arrival. So this is what being Toni Kroos is?
After all, it was “only” one of the German’s 23 passes that broke at least one line in the first leg. The difference with the second total of the match (Konrad Laimer, 10), says everything about the gulf that separated the former Munich player from the other players on the pitch last Wednesday. But only tells a very small part of his domination in this area.
Toni Kroos (Visual: Marko Popovic)
Credit: Eurosport
The king of the long pass and the last 30 meters
It’s quite simple, 25% of Kroos’ passes in the Champions League this season broke at least one line, as indicated by Opta. Simply phenomenal, obviously unparalleled. The native of Greifswald has always been a master of the pass, but takes great pleasure in recalling it at the age of 34. And to push excellence almost to the extreme.
Kroos is still 92% successful passes in C1 this season, coupled with the second total of successful long passes (more than 30 meters) for an outfield player behind… Joshua Kimmich. And in the second total of successful passes in the last 30 meters behind Rodri.
A cocktail reserved for the crème de la crème, served in the same way in La Liga, where he completes 91.2% of his passes, where no outfield player has completed more long passes than him, nor has he has had no competitor for three seasons when it comes to successful passes in the final third of the field. We are close to statistical indigestion. But Kroos is worth it.
“Oh, Toni Kroos…”
Concretely, this will soon give 100 assists under the Madrid tunic – he offered the 97th to Vinicius in the first leg. Visually, and to get out of the figures, it is always the same impression: that of a player in control, that nothing panics, capable of delaying as well as triggering, whether he is surrounded by Aurélien Tchouaméni, Eduardo Camavinga or Federico Valverde.
“Oh, Toni Kroos… He controls Real in such a way… He really played a great match,” Pep Guardiola was ecstatic after the quarter-final between the Merengue and Manchester City (3-3). “It’s like in an orchestra, he directs. He sets the tempo. We can always rely on him. He exudes such calm…” Antonio Rüdiger praised him on Sky Germany.
We could believe that all these beautiful people, Carlo Ancelotti included, have it in mind that we will not benefit from Kroos forever, when his contract expires next June. But the player who played for Leverkusen is quite simply still at the top of his game: he is an indisputable starter in the Champions League, has already played 43 matches this season, and has even agreed to return to the German selection for the Euro, almost three years ago. after his first international retirement. This is what we call a nice pass.
