Kroos slams Oezil racism claim

– German midfielder Toni Kroos (right) has criticised former World Cup-winning team-mate Mesut Oezil for the way he announced his international retirement over racism claims and said the Arsenal player spoke “nonsense”.

The 29-year-old Oezil announced his international retirement in July after Germany crashed out of the World Cup group stage in Russia. He said he had faced “racism and disrespect” because of his Turkish roots.

“Basically Mesut is a deserved international and as a player he deserved a better departure,” Kroos told Bild newspaper in an interview yesterday. “But the way he resigned was not in order.”

Oezil was a key member of Germany’s World Cup-winning side in 2014 and was voted by fans as the team’s Player-of-the-Year five times since 2011.

But the creative midfielder faced a barrage of criticism at home for having his photograph taken with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in May and for his performances at the World Cup in Russia.

In his resignation statement last month, Ozil also accused the German Football Association of failing to back him in the row over the photo.

German fans jeered him and Ilkay Gundogan, a team-mate also of Turkish descent who posed with Erdogan as well, during World Cup warm-up games in May.

“The parts in his statement that are rightly addressed are unfortunately overshadowed by the significantly higher amount of nonsense,” Kroos said. “I think he knows very well that racism within the national team and the DFB does not exist.”

The 28-year-old Kroos, who has won the last three Champions League titles with Real Madrid, said he had no plans to follow Oezil into international retirement after their World Cup flop.

“I will continue towards Euro 2020 and have set myself the goal of being far more successful there than in the recent past,” Kroos said. –