Real Madrid: Ranking the 10 best goals of the 2020/21 season

7 – A Toni Kroos special against Athletic Bilbao

Kroos had a tough start to this midweek fixture in December, with Raul Garcia literally looking to hunt him down. But luckily, Garcia challenged Kroos with excessive power and got sent off with two yellow cards for two fouls on the German in quick succession. Kroos had some respite with that, but he had some burden on his shoulders with Casemiro absent and attack misfiring.

10-man Athletic Bilbao was too strong in defence, and Real Madrid couldn’t capitalise on the limited chances against the disciplined defence setup by Giazka Garitano. But with Bilbao covering every blade of grass in their box with their defenders, there was some space in the offing in zone 14. With that, cutbacks had the greater scope of being dangerous than crosses into the box.

Toni Kroos did realize this as the game progressed and he started taking more shots from range. In the added time of the first half, Real Madrid finally broke the deadlock through the German, as the onrushing Toni Kroos latched onto a cutback from Vinicius Jr, and thumped it into the bottom left corner. He hit the ball through the ball of defenders with such a wonderful technique that Unai Simon in his full-stretch couldn’t stop it.

It’s so hard to describe the technique used by Kroos in words. It’s better if you yourself have a look at that wonderful goal from Toni Kroos.