Real Madrid News
Toni Kroos opens up on his future amid exit links: “I don’t want to play for another club”
In Real Madrid’s last game against Girona, Toni Kroos received the first red card of his career. The German had endured a rough day at the office and the team’s inability to score a winner pushed him into an unnecessary challenge late in the game and brought out a second yellow.
While he will miss the team’s next league game he will be available for Los Blancos’ midweek clash against Celtic in the UEFA Champions League as they try and secure the top spot with a win.
The legendary midfielder faced the press ahead of his team’s clash against the Scottish side and spoke about his future and the penalty controversy from the last game amongst other topics. Here are the takeaways from his press conference.
On the clash against Celtic: “Our goal is to win tomorrow.”
On the midweek result against Girona: “The game against Girona? A draw is better than losing.”
On his future: “My future? We will discuss about it in January, February or March.”
On his bond with the club: “My relationship with Real Madrid is special and will always be special.”
On his physical and mental state: “I feel very good right now. We will see what will happen.”
On the penalty controversy in the previous game: “The penalty of Asensio? I don’t listen to these things. The referees make their choices.”
On VAR’s interference in the incident: “For me, that penalty against Girona wasn’t a penalty. I didn’t understand why the VAR thought that was a penalty. The referee had done well his job. Then the VAR happened.”
On another possible UEFA Champions League title: “Winning our 6th Champions League? We always want to win, every year.”
On Luka Modric’s contract: “We don’t talk about it together. We want different things. I don’t ask Luka what he is going to do. You have to ask him.”
On his fitness: “I feel very good physically. The World Cup break will help me to rest a bit. I don’t have to worry about injuries. I’ll have time to rest.”
On the next step in his career: “Real Madrid is where I want to be, I don’t want to play for another club. I want to retire here but I don’t know when I will stop playing. I’ll decide with the club.”
On his current form: “If this is my best moment? I don’t know, I try to help team. Casemiro left so me and Luka have to adapt to this new reality.”
Source: Real Madrid Twitter
In what could be a real deal breaker for Real Madrid ahead of their Copa del Rey semi-final second leg clash against Barcelona, it has been revealed that as many as three Barça will be absent from the game while another key player remains a major doubt.
The list includes the likes of Pedri, Ousmane Dembele and Andreas Christensen. The trio is certain to miss the game through respective injuries while a certain Frenkie de Jong is more or less ruled out, as per Javi Miguel.
It must be remembered that Barcelona are heading into the second leg with a 1-0 advantage. But the absence of the aforementioned players means Madrid can work on exploiting the frailties.
Despite the absence of such big names, Barcelona did pretty well against Elche in their previous outing, coming out 4-0 victorious, with the goals coming from Robert Lewandowski, Ansu Fati and Ferran Torres.
With options lacking in midfield, Xavi decided to use the likes of Sergi Roberto and Eric Garcia along with Gavi in the heart of the lineup. In any way, they do have Sergio Busquets and Franck Kessie as backups if needed.
The defence, on the other hand, was perfectly guarded by Jordi Alba, Marcos Alonso, Ronald Araujo and Jules Kounde.
One can expect Xavi to once again interchange Araujo with Kounde on the right since the Uruguayan has been rather successful in minimizing the threat of Vinicius Jr.
As far as Madrid are concerned, they are sweating over the fitness of three key defenders, namely, Antonio Rudiger, Nacho, and Ferland Mendy. Between these three, the Frenchman is out for about a month while Rudiger and Nacho are expected to be back before the Clasico.
If there are no casualties against Real Valladolid, Madrid will have a perfect midfield and attack, with only Mariano Diaz missing.
