Real Madrid: Why Toni Kroos must start against Manchester City
Real Madrid didn’t start Toni Kroos in the first leg vs. Manchester City, and they can’t make the same mistake twice.
Toni Kroos is widely acclaimed as one of the top five midfielders in European football, but it’s still so easy to take the Real Madrid ace’s greatness for granted.
In a year in which his Champions League opponent Kevin de Bruyne has racked up the assist and still fell short of the Footballer of the Year award to Liverpool center midfielder Jordan Henderson, it’s Kroos who feels like the biggest afterthought.
The German international didn’t play in the first leg of Real Madrid’s 2-1 loss to Manchester City, and that decision from Zinedine Zidane even surprised Pep Guardiola. Real’s former nemesis at Barcelona could not figure out why such a talented, difference-making player was left out of the XI. And to be honest, neither could Madridistas.
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Kroos led all players in the Champions League group stages in key passes per game, proving, once again, that the notion he’s a “sideways passer” is a completely baseless idea concocted by those with an agenda.
The 29-year-old ranked in the top 10 in La Liga in key passes per game, finishing with the highest passing accuracy at 93.5 percent despite attempting the seventh-most passes.
When it comes to controlling games and making things happen for teammates, Kroos is as close to flawless as it gets in midfield. He does not give the ball away, and, as his wondergoals against Valencia and Eibar show, he has the technical quality to produce goals of his own.
Real Madrid missed that badly against Manchester City. They missed the chessmaster at his craft, breaking the lines and bringing a composure to the midfield against City’s own elite midfield trio.
Los Blancos missed the way Kroos has pressed and harried the opposition under Zinedine Zidane, quietly averaging 1.6 tackles per game to dispel the notion that he’s useless defensively. Slow, yes. Not a defensive midfielder, yes. But poor? Far from it.
Kroos is in a class of his own when it comes to passing accuracy, consistency, and chance creation from set pieces. His technical quality and precision strike fear in the hearts of the opposition, to the point where Guardiola’s surprise at not seeing the No. 8 on the team sheet was likely a mix of joy and relief.
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Zidane and Real Madrid cannot let Guardiola have that feeling again. Everything is on the line in the second leg at the Etihad Stadium, and if Real Madrid are to score twice without conceding once, they will need to control the game against the uncontrollable City. And it is only with Kroos that they can even conceive of pulling off this impossible task.