Joselu Mato spoke for Spain on Wednesday. The striker, now out of Real Madrid, hopes that Friday’s game will be Toni Kroos’ last as a professional, reminiscent of the legendary Spanish ‘Marca’ front page of “‘We’re going to retire Zidane” in the last 16 of the 2006 World Cup.
Spain and Germany meet this Friday in what is an early European Championship final. They are the two sides who have played the best football so far, but the draw has meant that the two will meet in the quarter-finals.
It will be a special match for many players. Two of them have shared a team this season. One of them, Joselu Mato who will play in his native Stuttgart. The other, Toni Kroos, who is facing his last games as a professional.
Joselu spoke at a press conference on Wednesday to analyse the game and his Real Madrid teammates. The Spanish striker hopes that Friday’s game will be Kroos’ last, which would mean victory for ‘la Roja’ and a place in the semi-finals.
“Hopefully it will be his last game. We hope to retire Toni on Friday. He’s been a friend. I’ve spoken to him a lot and he’s given me a lot of advice. He’s key for Germany and he’s been key for Real Madrid. We have to be careful with him on Friday,” Joselu told the media.
Joselu said that he knows “about Toni’s skills”. “He’s key for Germany, but we can’t just focus on him. The ball goes through him every time Germany have the ball. We’ll have to keep a special eye on him so that they don’t enjoy his game,” he added.
