Real Madrid legend defends retirement decision – ‘The best thing is to leave it at the top’ | OneFootball

Xabi Alonso, as a legend of Real Madrid’s midfield himself, is turning a new leaf with Los Blancos especially with Luka Modric having left the club earlier this month.

With the Croatian star out, the new manager is trusting the new young core to manage the responsibility completely on their own, something that has not happened over the course of a season in any capacity so far.

What it does signal for Real Madrid is the end of a golden midfield era, for Modric was the last-standing piece of that group.

Toni Kroos could well have played for the club for a couple more years, but his decision to retire on a high is one fans were forced to accept.

Kroos talks about his retirement

Speaking to El Pais (h/t Mundo Deportivo) in a recent interview, the Real Madrid legend spoke out in depth about his retirement, why he chose to leave the game early and how he never regretted the decision.

He began by living back the time of his retirement and how it could not have happened at a better time.

“I retired to a very high level. I think it’s hard to do better than I did in my last season at Real Madrid. I left after winning the Champions League and La Liga. Goodbye.”

Kroos then detailed how he came to the decision to call it quits and the factors that influenced his decision at the time.

“The decision to retire matured a lot, for several months. I didn’t get myself out of bed one morning and say to myself: ‘I’m retiring’,” he began, relaying that it was a well-thought-out decision.

“The previous year I already thought about retirement but Madrid insisted a lot and I decided to renew. But my idea was always the same, to retire like this, and luckily I succeeded,” he added.

Toni Kroos retired in 2024. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)

The German maestro then spoke out on his view that retiring on a high is the best way to bow out of one’s professional career and how he never had an ounce of doubt about the same.

“The best thing is to leave it at the top. You leave with a magnificent feeling because it is you who has made the decision. Before they sent me to the bench because I was no longer so good or because I was not so important for the team, as I was until the end,” he stated.

“Well, I preferred to leave it myself. I wanted to avoid all that. Neither my coach, nor my family, nor my body were going to tell me when to retire,” he added.

Despite having all the clarity of thought in mind well beforehand, Kroos admitted that making the decision official was anything but easy.

“It wasn’t easy for me.”

“I left what I had been doing since I was six years old. My whole life has depended on football, schedules, trips, food, and when to see my family. It was a radical change,” he concluded.

“My idea was to retreat to the top. I could have continued for two or three more years, but he didn’t think about doing it,” he said, elaborating that he had a good few years left in his tank.

Speaking about football, what it meant to him and how he has seen the game to be a vital part of his life, Kroos said,

“I’ve always enjoyed football, every day. I have managed to maintain until the end the idea I had as a six-year-old, and above all I have maintained the idea that football is only football, and that has helped me a lot when the results have been bad.”

Finally, the midfield legend commented on how midfielders are the most important players in any team and even cited the example of Manchester City who crumbled apart in the absence of their Ballon d’Or winner last season.

“The midfielder position is fundamental in modern football. Look what happened to City with Rodri’s injury. A midfielder or a pivot is missed when he is not there.”

“Since my retirement, I have seen that it has not been an easy season. And people said: ‘Ah, it’s because Toni Kroos isn’t there!’. And all I wanted was for the thing to work well and for them to stop saying that,” he concluded on his important role at Real Madrid.