06/02/2024
Toni Kroos’ intelligence and humility in approaching football have made him an icon that, even with the Euro Cup (since June 14) pending to be played with the German National Team, the fans cry after seeing him say goodbye victoriously with Real Madrid as champion of the Champions League 2023-24.
“The Iceman”, as he is called for his mettle and calmness on the court; “The Sniper”, for his powerful left-footed shots; and “The Professor”, as coach Carlo Ancelotti ‘baptized’ him for his contribution to the Merengue team, are adjectives inherited by the midfielder who, during his time with the Spanish team for a decade, He won 14 international titles, including five Champions League titles.
In 17 years of professional career, Kroos proved to be a different footballer not only for his style of play but for personal behaviors that enhance his name. Endowed with a special talent, from his beginnings he exhibited greatness, since a Uefa publication tells that at school in Evershagen they made him play football barefoot in physical education class, because “otherwise the others would not have had any chance.” Professor Sieglinde Heimann confessed to the newspaper Welt.
He came to Bayern from Hansa Rostock and made his debut in 2007 when he was 17 years and 265 days old. thanks to the approval of coach Ottmar Hitzfeld. That was the beginning of the star who also won the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and who at 34 years old, still with many physical and technical conditions, decided to say goodbye to competitive football.
The ritual with their boots
Beyond his sporting exploits there are events in which Kroos leaves his mark. One of them, the ritual with his guayos that he became famous for. Before games and training, Toni wets her cleats and then uses a hair dryer to warm them. And after practices or matches, he washes them himself, he doesn’t let the club’s props do it.
When it is going to be brand new, something that he avoids as much as possible for comfort reasons, he cuts the ends of the laces that come in plastic, as he always tries to ensure that no object interferes and that his gluing is as clean as possible.
Unlike other stars who constantly change their boots to respond to their advertising commitments to brands, which include different designs and tones, Kroos has a special clause in which he is not obliged to do so. He only wears his own, white and light blue, with three dark stripes, blue laces and heel cup, the same with the German flag and the Adipure 11Pro seal. the model made for him.
In an interview for the Real Madrid channel he confessed to a kind of cabal, as he said that he plays with the same guys “out of luck” and also out of comfort. Not in vain in some matches he ended up with worn-out boots, almost barefoot after hard battles. “I know many will think I’m crazy, but for me it’s important to look down and see white boots. I don’t know if I have any psychological problem, but if not, I’m not comfortable,” he said in TyC Sport.
Only on rare occasions did it allow the color to change, like the day it was presented at Real Madrid in front of 20,000 fans. There he wore blue boots. And in the Champions League final this Saturday at Wembley against Borussia, when the blue of his boots changed to gold (see help).
These details make Toni Kroos unique, who spent two years learning Spanish and who every day, at 6:30 in the afternoon, sits down to dinner with his wife Jessica Farber and their three children (Leon, Amelie and Fin). The one who gets up to send them off to school and who is not interested in any of them following in his footsteps in football, “just that they are happy and good people.”
Toni has a foundation in which she helps sick children and their parentsIn addition, the footballer follows NBA basketball and field tennis, sports in which he admires the styles of the American Stephen Curry and the Swiss Roger Federer.
The simple and disciplined player who always tries to go unnoticed because he doesn’t like publicity, but with his football and manners, he became a world reference.
IN THE FINAL HE CHANGED BLUE FOR GOLD
In the Champions League final, in which he registered his name among the top winners of this tournament in history with 6 titles along with Paco Gento, Luka Modric, Dani Carvajal and Nacho Fernández (5 with Real and one with Bayern Munich 2013 ), Toni Kroos wore his white boots, but with a variation in complementary colors. Adidas, the brand that sponsors him, launched a special edition of the legendary Adipure 11 Pro that the German has used since 2013.
He changed the blue for the gold color, which according to the designers, gives it more emphasis on the playing field. The guayos had the Champions League logo, accompanied by the date and place of the final. He did keep his country’s flag on his heel. They also had the names of his wife and his three children stamped on them.
“My boots are the only thing I have. When I play I need to see white boots on my feet. I don’t know why it happens to me, but it is like that,” she said.
