Toni Kroos is usually in the spotlight at Real Madrid and is one of their most important players on the pitch. However for a change it was not Kroos who was the centre of attention on Wednesday evening, but rather his friend and national teammate Marco Reus, who got the equalising goal for Dortmund in their 2-2 draw with Real Madrid in the Champions League. Nevertheless it was an important day for the 26-year-old, who just recently extended his contract with Real Madrid until 2022. Kroos also made his comeback earlier than was originally thought after a complicated injury.
Interviewer: Mr. Kroos, many people were surprised that you were back in the squad to face BVB on Wednesday evening and were then even brought on, making your first appearance since the 6th November. Has your injury (hairline fracture in foot), turned out not to be as bad?
Tony Kroos: Yes, the recovery process has been really quick. It’s pretty difficult to predict the recovery time for this kind of injury. Several doctors had predicted that the hairline fracture would need to heal for longer and that I would be out for a while. But it’s gone very quickly for me and I felt good so I went back to training with the first team. I’m really pleased that my coach Zinedine Zidane has put his trust in me again so quickly. I felt fine during the 30 minutes that I was on and didn’t have any pain at all.
Interviewer: Real Madrid finished second in the group after the 2-2 draw. You could now face Arsenal or Juventus for example in the last 16. Is there a particular team that you would like to be drawn against?
Kroos: I would have preferred to be playing against a side that finished second in the group but that isn’t going to happen (grins). In the end it really doesn’t matter who we come up against. There are very good teams who have won their groups and there are also very good teams who have finished second, so we will just take it as it comes. We want to defend our title and therefore we need to beat everyone anyway.
Interviewer: You will also have to play the first leg at home and go away for the second as the second-placed team in the group. Is that a big disadvantage in your opinion.
Kroos: I don’t think that has any influence on anything.
Interviewer: Real Madrid were leading 2-0 but still failed to win the game. What do you think made the team let the win slip out of their hands?
Kroos: If you were to divide the match into phases, we controlled the game for the first half hour and the last 15 minutes. BVB had two very big chances just before and after half-time but then we got the second goal out of nothing. I think Dortmund were quite lucky in the end because we had several good chances to win the game, such as Ronaldo’s shot off the post. I wouldn’t say we threw it away. It was a good game between two strong teams in which we felt we were just the better side with the better chances.
Interviewer: Can you remember surrendering a 2-0 lead since you’ve been at Real Madrid?
Kroos: (thinks for a while) No, that definitely hasn’t happened in my time at the club (laughs).
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Toni Kroos is usually in the spotlight at Real Madrid and is one of their most important players on the pitch. However for a change it was not Kroos who was the centre of attention on Wednesday evening, but rather his friend and national teammate Marco Reus, who got the equalising goal for Dortmund in their 2-2 draw with Real Madrid in the Champions League. Nevertheless it was an important day for the 26-year-old, who just recently extended his contract with Real Madrid until 2022. Kroos also made his comeback earlier than was originally thought after a complicated injury.
Interviewer: Mr. Kroos, many people were surprised that you were back in the squad to face BVB on Wednesday evening and were then even brought on, making your first appearance since the 6th November. Has your injury (hairline fracture in foot), turned out not to be as bad?
Tony Kroos: Yes, the recovery process has been really quick. It’s pretty difficult to predict the recovery time for this kind of injury. Several doctors had predicted that the hairline fracture would need to heal for longer and that I would be out for a while. But it’s gone very quickly for me and I felt good so I went back to training with the first team. I’m really pleased that my coach Zinedine Zidane has put his trust in me again so quickly. I felt fine during the 30 minutes that I was on and didn’t have any pain at all.
Interviewer: Real Madrid finished second in the group after the 2-2 draw. You could now face Arsenal or Juventus for example in the last 16. Is there a particular team that you would like to be drawn against?
Kroos: I would have preferred to be playing against a side that finished second in the group but that isn’t going to happen (grins). In the end it really doesn’t matter who we come up against. There are very good teams who have won their groups and there are also very good teams who have finished second, so we will just take it as it comes. We want to defend our title and therefore we need to beat everyone anyway.
Interviewer: You will also have to play the first leg at home and go away for the second as the second-placed team in the group. Is that a big disadvantage in your opinion.
Kroos: I don’t think that has any influence on anything.
Interviewer: Real Madrid were leading 2-0 but still failed to win the game. What do you think made the team let the win slip out of their hands?
Kroos: If you were to divide the match into phases, we controlled the game for the first half hour and the last 15 minutes. BVB had two very big chances just before and after half-time but then we got the second goal out of nothing. I think Dortmund were quite lucky in the end because we had several good chances to win the game, such as Ronaldo’s shot off the post. I wouldn’t say we threw it away. It was a good game between two strong teams in which we felt we were just the better side with the better chances.
Interviewer: Can you remember surrendering a 2-0 lead since you’ve been at Real Madrid?
Kroos: (thinks for a while) No, that definitely hasn’t happened in my time at the club (laughs).
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