Special night for Kroos as Real midfielder plots downfall of his old club
Former Bayern Munich midfielder Toni Kroos will line up for Real Madrid tonight against his old side in their Champions League semi-final first leg at the Allianz Arena. And the 28-year-old German international acknowledges it will be a great occasion for him.
Hesaid:“ofcourseit’sspecial when you play against a team you represented for six or seven years. I’ll see a lot of players I used to play with, or who I still play with in the national team.”
Kroos, who won the trophy with Bayern in 2013, also credited the return of boss Jupp Heynckes to Munich with revitalising the Bavarian club.
“I played under Jupp Heynckes myself for a long time and I know he’s a top coach,” Kroos told uefa. com.
“When he came back, he changed the feeling of the whole team. Since he arrived, they’ve played much better, so I think they’re harder to beat than last year, but we’ll see.”
Meanwhile, Bayern’s Thomas Müller will have the chance to make his 100th Uefa Champions League appearance in this season’s final in Kiev, but the 28-year-old is not a man to get carried away. He told uefa.com: “These teams don’t give anything away and the quality of the individual players is extremely high. During my youth there were always meetings between Bayern and Real Madrid. Bayern won some and lost some. They’ve always been close and exciting games, so both us and Real Madrid have respect for each other.
“Two great teams are up against each other in a semi-final and that always means high tension, because everyone is aware of the importance of the occasion; every good bit of play and every mistake can decide the match. You can certainly sense the tension in the stands. Of course, we never give up, but other teams have that philosophy, too.”
Real are the last Spanish side standing, making it the first time since 2010 that the La Liga semi-final representation has seen so low. The defending champions travel to Germany after a full week of rest and preparation since their last match, a 1-1 draw at home to Athletic Bilbao. They received the extra days off because their Spanish league match against Sevilla, originally scheduled for this weekend, was moved to next month after Sevilla reached the Copa del Rey final on Saturday.
Managerzinedinezidane should be able to count on all his first-choice players and must decide whether to start playmaker Isco or Welsh winger Gareth Bale up front with Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema.