It seems fair to suggest that Toni Kroos isn’t in a great mood this week, because the press is just filled with quotes from him speaking out about someone or something.
His main target was the decision to play a packed international schedule on top of the hectic league schedule that players are going through this season, and you can’t really argue with that.
The decision to have players flying round the world in the middle of a global pandemic to play meaningless international friendlies is reckless at best, so good on him for speaking up on that issue.
German outlet Bild have carried some of his other comments where he seems to tear into Antoine Griezmann and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, but it’s not really clear what brought this on:
He was speaking on the topic of celebrations, and it eventually moved on to having a pop at the Barcelona and Arsenal strikers:
“If there are rehearsed dances or choreographies, I think it’s very silly. Or even worse: If there are any objects hidden in studs. Mr Aubameyang celebrated this and took out his mask. That’s where it stops with me.”
His issue with Aubameyang centres around his occasional celebration of producing a superhero mask, while the Griezmann gripe lies with his Fortnite celebrations.
He insists this is not a good example to set to the kids and they should be looking at someone like Gerd Muller who simply “jumped up and pulled up his pants, it was still a real joy.”
The reality is that there’s nothing wrong with appealing to the kids with a celebration and Kroos is dangerous close to “old man yells at cloud” territory with his rants here, so hopefully he gets a few days off to calm down and relax a bit.