Real Madrid is a team that has been flying very high this season, beating almost everybody in Europe and in Spain. Los Blancos are currently sitting on first place in La Liga, four points ahead of rivals Barcelona and with great chances to win the league title. Furthermore, Real was able to defeat Schalke 04 with a 2:0 score in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 and will definitely advance to the quarter-finals of the tournaments. The magnificent ball movement and discipline on the field are the reasons why Real Madrid has been so successful this season and will most likely continue this trend as the campaign goes on. Furthermore, a lot of experts state that the style of football that Madrid is playing at the moment is even better than the one from last season. The biggest reason for this new type of football is one of the summer signings of the club – Toni Kroos.
Kroos arrived at Santiago Bernabeu during the summer transfer window and has quickly become one of the most important players for the club – he’s been the architect during every match and has replaced Xabi Alonso perfectly. The German national player has been Real Madrid’s primary distributor in the season – averaging the most passes per game in La Liga (69) and the second most in the Champions League (75.3). Furthermore, the success rate of his passes in both La Liga (93%) and the Champions League (94.7%) are quite impressive. He’s been the backbone of Real Madrid in every game in which he has started, playing even better than he did at Bayern Munich.
Kroos has adapted to the demands of Real Madrid in a very spectacular way, becoming a vital part of the team so fast. Kroos hasn’t even developed his Spanish on a high level, as it has been reported, that he communicates with most of his teammates in a mixture of English and hand signals. He will surely become even better as he improves his knowledge of the language. For us, the fans, it has been just pure joy to watch the German national player play at such a high level and it’s curious whether Real Madrid can have the same success in the UEFA Champions League the same way they did last season.
Primera Division: Toni Kroos - the engine of Real Madrid
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