Toni Kroos once again showed his footballing intelligence. The midfielder of real Madrid was the protagonist of the draw of the White House in the home of Shakhtar Donetsk but he wasn’t the one who signed the equalizer in the team’s time-out Carlos Ancelotti. The German footballer practically gave instructions to his teammates to find the goal that guaranteed passage to the round of 16 Champions League.
But let’s go step by step. The reigning European champions were 1-0 behind Warsaw against the Ukrainians, who cannot play at home because of the war unleashed by Russia on their territory, thanks to Oleksandr Zubkov’s goal early in the second half.
The Spanish team in the final tried everything and managed a draw that avoided the first European defeat of the season and allowed Real to already withdraw the pass for the next round, probably as before the group.
In stoppage time, the absolute protagonists of the match at Stadion Wojska Polskiego x Warszawie become Toni Kroos and Antonio Rudiger. The midfielder, in possession of the ball in the 91st minute, Real on the left side of the opposing half makes a hand gesture towards his teammate, who occupies his position in the center of the defense and urges him to go to the penalty area. from Shakhtar.
The German international waited for his team-mate to run into the opposition’s goal and, thanks to a not suffocating pressure from the Ukrainians, managed to make a beautiful cross from the penalty spot that the former Roma and Chelsea defender sent very little on the right of the pole of Anatoly Trubin.
It’s the dress rehearsal. A few minutes later, Real are always in the opposing half in search of an equalizer and this time they do it with the same combination that worked: Kroos crossed from the same position as the previous one and Rudiger, who had already been there for some time, took advantage of Trubin and headed the ball to the net.
Eventually, the German defender was taken off the field after being hit on the head by the opposing goalkeeper and suffered a very serious wound, sutured with 20 stitches. Shortly after, on Instagram, he posted a picture of him with an eyepatch and a bandage on his head and two words: “We are alive”.
Toni Kroos commented on the match after the final whistle: “They made things harder for us than they were a week ago. Then we left the locker room badly after the first half and everything got more difficult. We fought and in the end we deserved the draw. Rudiger? I told Antonio to go up because we were fighting to create opportunities. There were a few minutes left and we had to try everything to score. Rudiger is very strong in the area and obviously gave us a great hand”.
To take the stage of this game situation, however, the intelligence demonstrated once again by Toni Kroos: the German has been one of the best midfielders in the world for years and, despite his age, he is beginning to make himself heard, he always manages to bring his huge intelligence.
It is not the first time, however, that this has happened because we have already seen it from memory during a derby with Barcelona, when he told Vinicius to go for it because the ball would get there to aim. the goal; and against Liverpool, always with the Brazilian protagonist. At this point, Toni Kroos, who indicates to his teammate the space to be occupied to score goals, is becoming a ‘football genre’ apart.
Source: Fan Page IT
I’m George Gonzalez, a professional journalist and author at The Nation View. With more than 5 years of experience in the field, I specialize in covering sports news for various print media outlets. My passion for writing has enabled me to craft stories that capture the attention of readers all over the world.
