Kroos’ signal explaining why the German saved Real Madrid at Allianz | Relief

The noise was deafening. It was impossible to hear anything. And even more so for those who tend to speak through gestures, using pass as a language, concentrating on every control, touch and send a unique way of communicating and setting the tone of the conversation. Nothing could be heard and it was not enough for Kroos from a very long distance for Vinicius to see where the space was, which until that 22nd minute Real Madrid had not found in the Allianz hell. The gesture was enough. Pass. The best don’t talk like the rest, but rather how they decide.

But to understand the assist that led to the change in trend in a match in which Bayern started very strongly, you first need to look at those passes that Kroos makes out of inertia, which you never return to because they seem routine, robotic. So. So. So. No one has made more passes than Kroos at Real Madrid (76), 25 more than any other teammate. Only one had a target value. But the rest, those who arrived earlier, explained why Real Madrid were able to stop a start in which they barely controlled the ball. To explain the play that changes everything, one must first visit those that generate the script so that everything can explode.

Everything was from Bavaria. With Musiala on the right and Sane on the left, denying them the ability to shoot from their natural foot, Tuchel placed Muller in the midfield position to alternate dropping down either side, overloading and creating dominance in an attack that was slower than City’s but much larger. vertical and sharp at the front. So in just 5 minutes The Bavarians would have already left two or three obvious scoring situations, and Real did not have a single ball on the opponent’s field until the 18th minute.

To endure and resist pressure until it breaks, there is no one better than Toni Kroos. This is not an established phrase. The White midfielder is the midfielder in this Champions League who has the best pass success rate when under pressure (96%), being second on the list which increases his performance the most in terms of passes he makes when not under pressure . blood pressure (2% increase). Nobody absorbs and transmits pressure as well as he does, which is why it is important for Ancelotti to use him as the first receiver and not the second: it is important that he receives first, because from his reception everything else is ordered, and as Alvaro Benito explained on air Movistar+ that the opponent stops pressing.

Thanks to Kroos, Real Madrid regained its vitality. Bellingham appeared (haphazardly) in the 10th zone, Fede Valverde accompanied the games and Vinicius became a promise in the form of a threat, because although his interventions were under control, it was possible to guess the contour of the disaster for Bayern, which defended in 4 – 4-2 very passive as Ancelotti’s team progressed, defending the central area but opening the back strongly without putting pressure on the holder. This was the Champions League game in which Bayern felt the least pressure (15).

Bayern’s mistakes are numerous. An irresistible chain, the main characters of which are Kroos and Vinicius, ends fatally. There is no one on Kroos, while a huge space opens up behind the defensive line, with Kim, who had the darkest night and chased Vinicius very far and no one closed the ground that he opened.

Already from the moment Kroos sends the message, the image becomes clearer.To. Laimer and Goretzka, both midfielders, don’t cover the space, leaving a gap between them large enough for the ball to penetrate, and Kim tries to retreat unsuccessfully, having to turn his hips to see his partner again. It was surprising to see that Neuer does not leave, perhaps already far from the goalkeeper who always lived in front, allowing Vinicius to easily control and dictate the action in an established play.

This is not the first or second time that Kroos has gestured to Vinicius for space, almost like an adult telling a child where to go to put down an umbrella on a crowded beach. This is an obvious gesture of wisdom from a person who already knows how and where what is worth is. Kroos plays as if he has already played his 50 best games and comes back to show you that he still has his best game left, because the Allianz player definitely belongs in the collection of the best.

Vinicius made the same gesture in 2021, scoring a brace against Liverpool in the Champions League quarter-finals. Kroos, who saw the Brazilian’s enormous potential, also told him where to go to find glory.

The tactical culture that Real Madrid has developed is not based on numerical superiority, a certain height or repeating patterns, but on the recognition of talent as the main means of play, suggesting that within a match, inferiority will never be total if Kroos makes the first pass. If the person who receives this desperate letter does not need any words to respond to it. Consequently, when it comes to dominating Real Madrid, there is almost always an asterisk.. Kroos’s law remains incomprehensible to the vast majority of mortals.