World Champion Toni Kroos sealed his place in the history books on Saturday evening by becoming the first German footballer to win three Champions League titles. The midfielder enjoyed his third success as part of the Real Madrid team that beat Juventus 4-1 to earn their twelfth Champions League win, playing the majority of the match before being substituted in the closing stages. Kroos and Real Madrid's success last year against Atlético Madrid had already seen Kroos become the sixth German player to win the trophy with a non-German club.
The five other players to achieve that feat were Rudi Völler with Olympique Marseille in 1993, Bodo Illgner with Real Madrid in 1998, Dietmar Hamann as part of Liverpool's 2005 triumph, World Champion Sami Khedira in Real Madrid's 2014 team, before Kroos did so himself with the club from the Spanish capital last season.
In the European Cup era, the only German players to win the trophy with non-German clubs were Karl-Heinz Schnellinger with AC Milan in 1969 and Horst Blankenburg, who participated in all three of Ajax's consecutive succeses between 1971 and 1973.
World Champion Toni Kroos sealed his place in the history books on Saturday evening by becoming the first German footballer to win three Champions League titles. The midfielder enjoyed his third success as part of the Real Madrid team that beat Juventus 4-1 to earn their twelfth Champions League win, playing the majority of the match before being substituted in the closing stages. Kroos and Real Madrid's success last year against Atlético Madrid had already seen Kroos become the sixth German player to win the trophy with a non-German club.
The five other players to achieve that feat were Rudi Völler with Olympique Marseille in 1993, Bodo Illgner with Real Madrid in 1998, Dietmar Hamann as part of Liverpool's 2005 triumph, World Champion Sami Khedira in Real Madrid's 2014 team, before Kroos did so himself with the club from the Spanish capital last season.
In the European Cup era, the only German players to win the trophy with non-German clubs were Karl-Heinz Schnellinger with AC Milan in 1969 and Horst Blankenburg, who participated in all three of Ajax's consecutive succeses between 1971 and 1973.
