Real Madrid CM Toni Kroos
We move forward with another world-class center midfielder. Toni Kroos and Luka Modric have been elite together in the midfield for years, and while they both had a dip in 2018-2019, they rebounded together last season. And now in 2020-2021, despite the team’s overall issues, they are playing their best football in a while.
We’ve seen Kroos and Modric used in a double-pivot, though that setup no longer seems valid with Martin Odegaard expected to leave on loan. Even so, the partnership of Kroos and Modric as opposite ends of a midfield three is a fruitful one. Kroos controls play on the left with his composed control of the ball, and he loves spraying passes to the right. Meanwhile, Modric prefers to carry the ball forward on the right side and pushes higher up the pitch than his German counterpart.
Kroos is Real’s main chance-creator, as he is class on set pieces, too. The 31-year-old leads the way with 2.1 key passes per game and is second behind Sergio Ramos with 71.4 passes per La Liga contest. The German completes a whopping 7.2 long balls per game from midfield, yet he is still third in the league with a 93.3 pass completion percentage (the two guys ahead of him average 1.0 long balls per game, max).
Real Madrid will need Kroos to keep everyone in check, create chances, and make sure they are winning the midfield battle. He needs to elevate the forwards, whose stagnant runs have frustrated fans. Kroos has his work cut out for him, but when he’s at his best, he can provide multiple big chances to the front line.