Toni Kroos left ‘crushed’ in centre circle as Germany legend’s illustrious career ends in most heartbreaking fashion

TONI KROOS admitted himself that to retire off the back of Champions League AND Euros glory would be far too “cheesy” to be considered plausible.

And so, sadly, it played out, in devastating fashion.

Very few footballing legends get to walk away from the sport at the highest of highs, and if anyone deserved it, Kroos did, but it rarely seems to go that way.

Ending his club career in European dreamland with Real Madrid at Wembley on June 1 was meant to be the start of a magical farewell summer for the 34-year-old.

Instead, his last ever competitive outing with his boots laced finished in Stuttgart at the end of a pulsating Euros quarter final 2-1 extra-time defeat to a formidable Spain outfit.

The cheesy dream is over, and an unfitting way for one of the greats of the game to go out on. Football can be incredibly cruel sometimes.

On his 114th appearance in a Germany shirt – and 19th at the Euros – he brought out the greatest hits, showing exactly why he was and is world class, all while being technically unemployed having let his Madrid contract run down last month.

The intelligence, the gracefulness, the nous and the nastiness. The winning mentality and the leadership exhumed in such a calm, controlled manner. It was all on show.

Spain manager Luis de la Fuente joked in the build-up that the only way to stop Kroos is to tie his feet together.

It leaves the rest of us wondering why he is even retiring in the first place?

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The likes of Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, 39, and Argentina’s Lionel Messi, 37, continue to lead their nations on the world’s biggest stages, so why not carry on?

Kroos will tell you he wants to spend more time with his wife Jessica and their three children at their beautiful Mallorca villa.

After the match, he said: “I would not say it was the most brutal match, but one where we put everything in. We did not want to lose, we were so close.

“Now at the moment the exit covers it all. We wanted to achieve something big and that dream is now gone.

“We will realise we played a good tournament, but being so close to reaching the next round is hard.

“We can all be proud because we improved. I am happy to have helped Germany as a football nation to have hope again.

“In the future I am convinced the team will succeed, but today we are sad because we wanted to stay in this competition a bit longer.”

What Kroos may not admit is that there were moments during this epic encounter that showed why he may be right to hang up the boots now rather than later.

At times, Kroos struggled with the pace of 16-year-old Lamine Yamal and 21-year-old Nico Williams, the physicality of Rodri.

And as Dani Olmo snuck into the box unmarked to tuck home and 51st-minute opener for Spain, a heartless onlooker would argue that Kroos should have been tighter.

By the end, he looked physically and mentally drained, showing rare signs of frustration and anger as his final few minutes in the spotlight of international football faded away.

Despite that, his influence at the elite level remained, in particularly on Germany’s patience before Florian Wirtz nicked a late leveller.

He surely would have taken a penalty but for Mikel Merino’s gut-wrenching 119th-minute winner.

Throughout, the home crowd chanted “Toni, Toni” whenever they got the chance.

From kick-off his passing was full of cuteness and deception, giving Rodri the eyes and floating one over for Havertz to challenge for.

We also saw the edge, the craftiness, that has kept him at the top for so many years, flying in and crunching the young talent Pedri, leaving him in a heap on the floor.

Kroos sneakily ran as far away as possible before ref Anthony Taylor could even think about reaching to his pocket.

Pedri eventually had to be subbed off with his head in his hands. Kroos looked unperplexed. He had done a job on his opposite man and come out on top, just like he normally does.

He would go on to commit a further five fouls in this match before getting booked.

At times he was stood as a third centre back, dictating from as deep as humanly possible in order to find the space he craves to look up and create with that wand of a right foot.

You can see why boss Julian Nagelsmann brought him back into the fold in March 2024.

Kroos initially retired from international football in the summer of 2021 following Germany’s Euro 2020 last 16 exit at the hands of England at Wembley, leaving the country bereft of ideas in that position.

The way Kroos can still singlehandedly dial down the velocity of a match with a composure of thought and those pinged diagonals is remarkable.

It’s the sort of skill you learn when you’ve been around the block for as long as he has, winning a World Cup in 2014 as well as four Bundesliga titles, four La Liga titles and six Champions League crowns – five with Madrid and one with Bayern Munich.

It is worth pausing to consider what would have happened in Kroos’ career had he joined Manchester United in the summer of 2014 instead of Madrid, having agreed to do so before David Moyes got the sack and Carlo Ancelotti pounced.

Let’s put it this way: he would not have been as decorated…

Germany legend Lothar Matthaus – after that Euro 2020 2-0 defeat to the Three Lions – claimed Kroos was “no longer international class”. How wrong he proved to be.

Kroos continued to push and probe before Germany’s deserved 89th-minute equaliser through Wirtz, one of six subs Nagelsmann made during 120 minutes of football.

It was never a possibility that Kroos would be taken off.

No one can replicate what he does, even with weary, cramping legs that saw him needing treatment in injury time before the result agonisingly slipped away.

He limped around the pitch at full-time like a lost soul.

You’ll have plenty of time to rest up in Mallorca, Toni. Enjoy this long, deserved rest.

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk