Toni Kroos, now retired as a professional football player, said that Cristiano Ronaldo has not been the same as he was in the ranks of Real Madrid.
Recently retired German footballer Toni Kroos claimed that for Cristiano Ronaldo, his former Real Madrid team-mate “things were never the same” as they were at Real Madrid after he departed from the Spanish capital.
In an interview with the sports magazine ‘Kicker’, published on Monday to mark his nomination as German player of the year, the former midfielder described the Portuguese as a “success addict” and is “sure” that the Portuguese striker “also sees it the same way”.
Kroos said of the longevity in performance shown by Cristiano Ronaldo and Leo Messi, that both “decided not to stop at the top, like 95% of all players, but to enjoy football a bit longer, and that’s a good way to go”, even if he opted for a more premature retirement.
The German admitted that he was “very angry” with his body at the end of the quarter-final between his national team and Spain because it had “deprived him of the chance to play extra time as he had done the previous 90 minutes”.
“First my left thigh hurt, then my calf and then my adductors. I couldn’t. Man, I was angry. My head wanted to do it, but my leg wouldn’t follow,” he said.
The former Real Madrid player revealed that he has “many offers” to work as a football pundit on television, but that he has not considered “anything serious yet” because his active career “is still very recent”.
“I don’t want to sit at a desk and philosophise about this and that, but I want to be where it’s all about the game. No controversies, no transfer rumours, and no discussions between coaches. Just analysing and explaining game situations. That could be exciting,” he concluded.
