Toni Kroos continues to diligently collect titles. The 2014 world champion is even more successful at club level. Nobody has more titles at the Club World Cup than Mecklenburg. But that shouldn't be the end of it for a long time. Kroos craves more and sets his sights on the next targets.
Toni Kroos routinely posed again with a shiny trophy. A nice smile, plus a little fireworks in the background, and the next souvenir photos were ready, which the hard-working title collector presented to his fans on social media - highlighted with six fingers for six club World Cup titles.
You "suffered" in the premier class in the previous season, this is now the "reward", emphasized Kroos after the final success with Real Madrid against Al-Hilal (5: 3). It may almost be routine for someone who has won 30 titles, but the record Club World Cup winners set their sights on the next.
He doesn't think of a certain number of trophies he has to achieve, said Kroos, who has already won the sportingly questionable competition, dominated by the Europeans, but lucrative for FIFA and the clubs six times - more often than anyone else. He was "very satisfied" with that, said the 2014 world champion soberly. Real go home with "a good feeling and another title".
But the goal of the royals this season remains the premier class. "To get here you have to win the Champions League. We'll try again but we know it's difficult," said Kroos, who would then also be given a chance for a seventh Club World Cup title.
If he still plays for the Madrilenians. His contract ends in the summer. His future? Open so far. He's in contact with the club, but there hasn't been a decision, said the 33-year-old, who is relaxed about the coming season. Because "neither side will do anything stupid".
Unlike sometimes in Germany, where he is nicknamed "Querpass-Toni", he is held in high esteem in Madrid. Nobody embodies "the rule of a generation of players who never tire of winning" as much as Kroos, wrote Marca after the triumph in Rabat, Morocco. His secret of success? He's trying to "enjoy football and work," said Kroos: "Then the results will come." And the trophies.
