On June 30, 2024, Toni Kroos' contract with Real Madrid expires, and the ten-year Real Madrid career officially ends. The 34-year-old is still in excellent form, but he has opted to retire after Euro 2024. Because of Kroos' excellent form, many fans pointed out: "Kroos should be punished and punished for playing for another two years".
Kroos updated his social media on June 30, in which he wrote: "Today is the last day of my Real Madrid career, there is a special feeling, but I will always be part of the Meilinger and I will always be grateful! Kroos revealed reluctance in his words, and it can be seen that Kroos also has a deep affection for Real Madrid, although he has achieved fame at Bayern, but he has reached the peak of Real Madrid.
Kroos joined Real Madrid in the summer of 2014 for only €25 million, when Kroos was already valued at €42 million. Of course, the main thing is that Bayern management is a little estranged from Kroos, Bayern doesn't really want to stay, and Kroos also wants to leave. It was easier for Real Madrid to sign Kroos, and in the summer they brought in Cristiano Ronaldo. Although Kroos was a member of the World Cup winners at the time, he did not shine as much as Ronaldo at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Real Madrid signed two top midfielders in a row, which required a balance of multiple aspects, and was forced to abandon Argentine star Di Maria. At the time, Real Madrid's operation raised some doubts, and although Di Maria later made a good move to Paris, it now seems that Real Madrid did not make a mistake. It's just that Ronaldo's performance at Real Madrid failed to meet expectations, while Kroos was at the peak.
Kroos has had a very high attendance rate since joining Real Madrid, playing 55 games in his first season, becoming an absolute mainstay of the team. Since then, Kroos has made 40+ appearances per season, consistently maintaining high attendance and good form. During his 10-year career at Real Madrid, Kroos won 23 trophies, including five Champions Leagues, five Club World Cups, four La Liga titles and one Copa del Rey title. In addition, there are 4 UEFA Super Cup winners and 4 Spanish Super Cup titles.
For Kroos, there is one trophy left to complete his career, and that is the European Championship. Kroos announced his retirement from the German national team in the summer of 2021 and announced his return to the national team in early 2024. It seems that at the moment when his return was announced, Kroos was already planning to retire at the end of the season, leaving the last days of his career to the German team.
Euro 2024 is Kroos' fourth trip to the European Championship, with Germany reaching the semi-finals in 2012 and 2016 and losing to England in the quarter-finals of Euro 2020. Interestingly, Germany has been eliminated by runners-up in the past three European Championships, while in Euro 2008 Germany was the runner-up themselves, and the champion that year was Spain.
At Euro 2024, Germany have home advantage, but it will be very difficult to win the title, and the knockout stage will be in the top half of the big club. Since the beginning of this European Cup, the German team has won 2 and drawn 1 in the group stage and successfully advanced to the round of 16. defeated Denmark 2-0 in the 1/8 finals and successfully advanced to the quarterfinals. The next games should all be big clubs, and the test for the German team has just arrived.