The end of an era: Toni Kroos announced that he will retire from football after the Euros

A rare and rich career like no other will very soon come to an end. Toni Kroos announced today (Tuesday) on his Instagram account that after the Euros he will retire from football, and this at the end of an extraordinary path, 17 years as a player and a whole decade at Real Madrid.

“The day I was introduced to Real Madrid changed my life as a footballer, but especially as a human being,” the 34-year-old German midfielder wrote, “It was the beginning of a new chapter in the biggest club in the world. After 10 years, this chapter will also come to an end at the end of the season. I will forever I will not forget this time.”

Kroos continued: “I want to thank everyone who welcomed me with open arms and an open heart, and everyone who trusted me. But especially, I want to thank you, Real Madrid fans, for the love you showed me from day one. This decision means that my career as an active soccer player will end after the Euros This summer. As I always said, Real will be my last team. I’m happy and proud that I made this decision myself. My ambition was always to finish my career in Madrid.”

Kroos started his career at Bayern Munich, where he belonged between 2007 and 2014, when in between he was loaned for a year and a half to Bayer Leverkusen. In 2014 he arrived at Real Madrid and became one of the biggest symbols of the Blancos in the current era.

Kroos’ trophy cabinet is particularly large – among other things, he won five times in the Champions League, four times in the Spanish Championship, four times in the European Super Cup, three times in the German Championship, three times in the German Cup and also lifted the Spanish Cup once. In addition, in 2014 he also won the World Cup with the German team.

In total throughout his career together with his teams, Cross took part in 751 games, scored 73 goals and added 165 assists. Florentino Perez was quoted in the announcement of the Real Madrid club, who said: “Cross will be one of the greatest players in the history of our club, which will forever be his home.”

Now anyway, Kroos will try to end his career in style when he arrives at Wembley on June 1 with Real Madrid aiming to win the Champions League once again, with Dortmund facing off. On July 14, he will start his last Euro tournament with the German national team, and will get to play in front of his home crowd in the country.