Tonight is not just another game at Santiago Bernabéu. It is the last league match of a legend in the modern and overall history of Real Madrid, one of those players who acquired the dimension of a myth even before hanging up his boots. Toni Kroos says goodbye to La Castellana Coliseum, although not to football. He has at least four more games left, the Champions League final at Wembley and the three matches of the group stage of EURO2024. In any case, a few drops of essence in the boots of one of the footballers who has caressed the ball the most in the history of football.##EDITORS_CHOICE##Kroos, the best no.8 in the history of Madrid, is retiring, which is already saying a lot about a number that giants such as Míchel or Mijatovic have sported on their backs. But ‘Antonio’ is a footballer of a different category, a dimension in which only a handful of players enter, always with a passport stamped with numerous Champions League trophies in his backpack. Di Stéfano, Gento, Zárraga and Puskas began a path that, more than half a century later, another generation followed. That of Ramos, Cristiano Ronaldo, Benzema, Carvajal, and, of course, Casemiro and Modric – the two footballers with whom Kroos formed the Midfield Holy Trinity. An imposing core of which tomorrow only Luka will remain as a survivor in Madrid, inaccessible to boredom and immune to biology.Carlo Ancelotti sums up Toni Kroos’ retirement with – German stubbornness, b***s, and no tears! 😂 pic.twitter.com/7te2BNFO7H— DW Sports (@dw_sports) May 24, 2024 Kroos always respected health and fitness, but there were also other things in his life besides football. Above all, his love for his family already made him give up his national team much earlier than expected. The same can be said about this now final goodbye to football, which comes to him at only 34 years old and after what has possibly been the best season of his career – a course that has confirmed him as an absolute beacon of a legendary Madrid generation.With him at the controls, cradling possession, getting out of impossible ambushes, lowering the heart rate in games when he had to, or accelerating with long or short balls remotely directed at the foot of the best-placed teammate, Real Madrid have discovered a way of playing that, inevitably, comes to an end. Kroos is such a special footballer, so unique, that Los Blancos will not be able to play the same way again. There can be just as effective, even more tormenting for the rivals, but there will never be as smooth, as aesthetic, as logical, as rational.Two retirements would be too much: Modric renews with Real MadridKroos brought calmness and sanity to Real Madrid football for a decade. From a transfer market jackpot he became a pillar of the team at a speed that he never had in his legs. What works quickly is his brain, which is always a couple of plays ahead of the rest. He has decided to stop when no one expected it – a decision that the Bernabéu does not fully understand, but that they will end up respecting. ‘Antonio’ deserves no less.LA LIGA – (FINAL) MATCHDAY 38FridayGirona – Granada 7-0 (3-0)/Garcia 30, Tsygankov 33, 54, Dovbyk 44 pen, 75, 90 pen, Stuani 78/SaturdayOsasuna – Villareal 1-1 (1-0)/Budimir 30 – Morales 57/17:15: (2.45) Sociedad (3.50) Atl.Madrid (3.05)19:30: (2.15) Almeria (3.50) Cadiz (3.60)19:30: (3.00) Rayo Vallecano (3.40) Ath.Bilbao (2.35)22:00: (1.38) Real Madrid (5.00) Betis (8.00)Sunday15:00: (2.35) Getafe (3.35) Mallorca (3.35)17:15: (1.97) Celta (3.45) Valencia (3.90)17:15: (2.45) Las Palmas (3.40) Alaves (3.10)22:00: (4.20) Sevilla (3.70) Barcelona (1.83)***odds are subject to change***
