Danke Schön Toni Kroos — Bidding Farewell To An Outlier Midfield Conductor Of The Modern Game

The concert is halfway through, the audience is moving in tune, their emotions & feelings in motion, in rhythm, in flow & as the conductor emerges out of the deeper midfield pockets to guide the instrument players to the final crescendo, the audience waits in anticipation.

The Santiago Bernabeu has seen the floodlights cast their menacing gleam on their adversaries on the pitch, intimidating opponents with every Hala Madrid chant engulfed in the sound of the drums from the fervent Madridistas— but out of the chaos assured & in complete control is their midfield outlet & general.

The only player playing to the beat of those drums, with every stride, trudge & shift of gear — pass & move —thinking two steps ahead, Real’s metronome, Toni Kroos.

Kroos is known to prowl the perimeters & the length & breadth of the pitch with poise yet with a mix of calculated & effluent grace but looking the bull of every Bernabeu corrida de toros bullfight straight in the eyes; assertively stamping his authority, his guile & finesse in the centre of the pitch, in the heart of Los Blancos’ central engine room.

Kroos might just be the glitch in the matrix, the one(Neo) that allowed Real Madrid to win four UCL trophies in the past…