Real Madrid: Three players whom Toni Kroos has made better

Lucas Vazquez

As a classic right-winger who hugs the right touchline most of the time, it’s very difficult to make an impact in modern football. Vazquez has a very high work rate but at the same time its very important to produce an end product as a forward. A winger needs to be found in the right position at the right time to guarantee an end product.

And Toni Kroos has helped Lucas to produce that end product or to build a meaningful attacking move. Vazquez often makes runs in wide positions down the right flank, while Kroos plays on the left or through the centre most of the times. It is a highly difficult task to pick up a player on the run with an accurate long pass from one flank to the other that falls ahead of the player so that the player doesn’t have to stop to receive the ball and can carry forward the ball at the same pace.

But Kroos does that with relative ease. He has the ability to make such accurate long balls on a regular basis and he demands the movement from his forward to produce something meaningful. In that regard, Kroos has managed to bring the best out of Vazquez by feeding with such accurate long balls on a regular basis.

Vazquez isn’t a prolific dribbler who tries to make his way into the box. He looks to beat the player using pace or stepovers, and if those scenarios don’t look possible he tries to cut inside with his right, but move away from the goal to make a cutback to a player in the right position. There has to be a player at the end to receive that cutback and take a shot and one player who’s frequently found on the edge of the box at the right time.

People following Real Madrid since 2016 or before can easily remember a few classic Toni Kroos goals with a beautiful finish from long range. Some of those goals were assisted by Lucas Vazquez, who made an inch-perfect cutback to Kroos, while Kroos ensures that there is an end product with his elite finishing abilities, and helps Lucas to rack up some assists to his name.

The most recent example is Toni Kroos’ goal against Valencia in February 2021, which is a perfect example to showcase their combination. In this way, Toni Kroos has combined with Lucas Vazquez to bring the best out of him and help the player in many ways.

While Casemiro, Lucas and Mendy are players who have been made better by Kroos, some of them have helped Kroos to become a better footballer in their own way. Some examples are elite footballers like Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema, who have always provided themselves as options to Toni Kroos with their great off the ball movement, and they’ve also challenged Kroos to find the tough way by getting themselves into challenging goalscoring positions.