AS: “The moment no one at Real Madrid wants to live is coming”
Kroos (33 years old) and Modric (37 years old). They are the pair that have dominated world football in midfield for the past decade.
The Croatian arrived in 2012 at the hands of Mourinho. Real Madrid paid 35 million dollars to Tottenham in difficult negotiations. With Kroos, everything was easier. His contract was due to expire the following year and Bayern let him go for 25 million.
Guardiola was Toni Kroos’ coach at the time. But he didn’t leave Munich because of it. The German player said: “Guardiola fought until the last day for me to stay in Bayern Munich. If I had to choose the perfect coach for my game, it would be Guardiola. I really enjoyed the year we were together; It made me feel so much better.”
But no, Guardiola hasn’t been enjoying this duo lately in midfield. They only played together in Madrid with Ancelotti, Benitez and Zidane. In this time, since 2014, Modric and Kroos have played 292 matches together, 95% of which are starting XIs. They have spent 20,849 minutes on soccer fields together at the same time.
Modric said in front of the media on the eve of the Anfield match: “I’m not saying that Kroos and I can’t play together when we did it before and well, but I don’t know… After a month and a half suddenly it might seem like we can’t. I do not understand”.
However, Ancelotti decided to rest the pair to get them ready for important matches. It is a growing trend. After the Qatar World Cup, Real Madrid played 15 matches. Modric and Kroos, in the same formation, started in just six matches.
But they started together in the most important matches: Villarreal, Barcelona, Atletico, Valencia, Al-Ahly and Al-Hilal. Gastroenteritis prevented Kroos from enjoying the crushing victory at Anfield, but in tomorrow’s derby against Atletico Madrid they will be back in action together.
Ancelotti is clear about that, and both are indisputable for him. The club must decide. Admittedly, it will allow both legends to determine their continuity in Madrid, but the continuation of the legend of Kroos and Modric is still in the wind and it seems that the moment that no one in Real Madrid wants to live is soon the dissolution of this duo.
The German’s position is more ambiguous than Modric, whose contract renewal will be implemented soon, and of course because he “deserves it” widely on the field.
Source: As
