Kroos: “I can still play football very well at 31 years old”

Toni Kroos played against the Sheriff his first minutes of the season with Real Madrid, after a start to the course weighed down by a sore throat. The 31-year-old German conceded before the game to the portal Goal.com an interview whose second installment has been published this Thursday morning. The German talks about the start of the season, Camavinga, Mbappé, his relationship with Zidane, the launch of his training app and his aspirations as a coach …

“We can be happy with the points we have scored so far. Some games have been very difficult, very even, but in the end we have been able to find a way to win. This, in addition, at the beginning of the year, we all know that it always costs a bit to enterYou can't play from matchday one well, this doesn't exist “explains Kroos about the start of the season.

Camavinga and Mbappé

A campaign in which he shares a dressing room with new players, such as Eduardo Camavinga. “So far he has been very good. It will be easier to talk about him in a while, when I train and play with him more, but what I have seen so far in the games is very good, already has helped us with his energy“He says about the midfielder from Rennes.

The one who could not reach Madrid was Mbappé: “In the summer I said that I would like a player like him to come, but if he did not come we had a good team. Let's see what happens in the future, it is difficult for me to say because I am not the one. decides. His quality has not changed, he is a good player and what we know is that Madrid wanted to sign him but in the end they did not succeed. All this continues, also without Mbappé here. I think we are fine and My opinion has not changed for the future: the best players have to be at Madrid and he is sure to be one of them“.

His future and that of Casemiro and Modric

Among those best players who are in Madrid are Kroos and his teammates Casemiro and Modric, with whom he has formed a legendary midfield in the last five years. “We do not have to say what we have shown in our career, also in the last season. In addition, there are differences between us, I think Case is 29 years old, I am 31 and Luka is 36. There is a difference so that the three of them are spoken the same. We are still capable of playing at a great level. “

The German thinks that he personally still has a lot of football to offer: “I remember something Zizou told me two years ago, when he was 29 and we won three Champions League together: that the best, from his experience as a player, was what was coming, that his best time was after 30 or 31. I think that at 31 I can still play football very well“.

Coaching aspirations

Kroos has always denied that he intends to be a coach one day, although he recently launched a self-improvement app, the Toni Kroos Academy: “I still do not think about being a professional coach, but more something with the children, to be able to help someone. I don't like traveling so much, staying in hotels for so long, but something like that, choosing what I do every day and being able to help many people in the world …“.

Some wardrobe mates ask her how she manages to work the app, have a podcast, and take care of her three children. “I am still young and when we travel, for example in hotels, I do not do nonsense with that time. I don't play Play, I take advantage of the time on airplanes and in hotels to think about what we can do with the application“, Explain.

Style

On his game, the German comments: “Running a lot with the ball is not my game, but there are situations in which I need it. In that chapter it is a matter of having the ball close to always have control and at the same time head up. To be capable of that you need a lot of training. There are some players who always do things and they work, and my football is not going to dribble against four, but to have an idea before the rival arrives so as not to have to do a one against one at speed; It is important to know where you are moving to go to the other side. Having this is more important to me: reading and controlling the ball well so that I don't have to be faster with my feet than the other, but with my head “.

Relationship with Zidane

The midfielder affirms that he has not spoken with Zidane since the coach announced his goodbye: “No, nothing. Of course we spoke when he left, we had a very good talk. As I know him, I wanted to disconnect a bit. . He has the same vision as me, he is taking advantage of his time with the family for now. One day we will talk again for sure because we have always had a good relationship“.

Withdrawal of the German national team

Finally, he spoke of his goodbye to the German national team, which has finished after the European Championship with a record of 106 caps and a World Cup in his record: “I knew we have very good players, with a very good future. As I know Flick because we worked together for six years when he was second coach in the national team, we talked after the Euro, I told him my idea and what I wanted. It had nothing to do with who the coach was, it was a more personal decision. I would have liked to work with him, but I did not want to change my opinion and I am happy with it. My decision was not for a sporty aspect, but personal. I wanted to have a little more time with my family, rest a little more and focus on Madrid after many years with the National Team“.