Kroos: “I’ve had offers from other clubs, but I’ve never discussed them because I want to retire at Real Madrid”

Real Madrid are in Germany this Monday ahead of Tuesday night’s Champions League match away at Borussia Mönchengladbach and Toni Kroos was the player selected to speak to the media in the pre-match press conference. Back in his home country, the German offered an analysis of Real Madrid’s very hot and cold past week.

He said: “We won in El Clásico, which is a special match, but to win the league title you also have to defeat the smaller sides. It’s not a movitation thing, but sometimes things don’t go as you’d like. Against Cádiz, nobody played at their level and you can even lose to Tercera [Spain’s fourth division] teams when that happens. Against Shakhtar Donetsk, we lost confidence after their first goal. This can happen, but at least we never give up. Now we’ve won a match and now, given that we lost to Shakhtar Donetsk last week, there is pressure to win again tomorrow.”

The midfielder was asked how he and the team have responded to the criticism directed their way over the past week, up to the Clásico win. He replied: “You have to accept that there will be criticism when you lose matches at Real Madrid, but the important thing is how you react. We’ve reacted with a win, but it’s just one win and we have to keep it up. It’s easy for those on the outside to say that there are doubts when you lose, but the Clásico win shows it’s not like that.”

Given that he is back in Germany, Kroos was asked what it’s like to take on Bundesliga teams with Real Madrid and if he has ever considered returning to that league. He said: “I always like to come back to Germany because it’s my country and I can speak my language here. But, I really enjoy life in Madrid and I really enjoy playing for Real Madrid. I’ve had offers from other clubs, but I’ve never discussed anything with those other clubs because my plan is to retire at Real Madrid.”