A lot of praise was directed towards Fede Valverde after the ‘Clásico’ for his goal, intensity and hard work. But the true leader behind Real Madrid’s win was no other than Toni Kroos.
It was an absolute pleasure to watch him provide for los Blancos in all aspects of the game, whether it was creating in attack, setting the tempo in midfield or even showing a lot of sacrifice and dedication in defensive duties.
As a matter of fact, Carlo Ancelotti highlighted his defensive work in between the lines at the press conference after the match.
Although he already left a mark early into the game with a delicate through ball to Vinicius Jr. while falling down and being grabbed by Sergio Busquets, which was key in allowing Madrid to go ahead in the 11th minute through Karim Benzema.
From there on he was imperious, forming an extremely balanced midfield with Luka Modrić and Aurélien Tchouaméni. In this occasion he also outclassed Barça’s trio formed by Busquets, Pedri and Frenkie de Jong.
He’s a great weapon for Madrid to launch their lethal counterattacks, capable of finding and enabling pacy players such as Vinicius Jr., Valverde or Rodrygo thanks to his constant awareness on the field.
During ‘El Clásico’, Kroos completed 89% of his passes, including 6 precise long balls out of 8 he attempted. He also won 8 out of 13 ground duels he was involved in and recovered the ball 6 times for his team whether it was through a tackle or an interception.
Credit is also due to Ancelotti who is making very good use of Kroos this season, resting him from time to time to keep him in the best physical condition possible, and it’s paying off.
Seeing him play at this high level, it’s surprising to see that his contract expires at the end of this current season, in June 2023. If he keeps up this standard of performances, Florentino Pérez will have to put together a new contract for him to sign before any other team tries to tempt him to leave, from January onwards.