Toni Kroos Weighs in on ‘Most Important’ Issue Affecting Real Madrid

Retired midfielder Kroos won 22 trophies as a Real Madrid player.

Toni Kroos takes great interest in his former club. / IMAGO/Pro Sports Images

Toni Kroos has argued that a lack of defensive cohesion was to blame for Real Madrid’s poor showing across 2024–25.

Former manager Carlo Ancelotti often spoke about a lack of fluidity across his entire team and the issue is believed to have irked new boss Xabi Alonso, who is reported to be planning crunch talks with key figures like Kylian Mbappé and Vinicius Junior to get to the bottom of the 15-time Champions League winners' problems.

“It helps the team a lot to have the feeling that you’re defending together,” Kroos said on his Einfach mal Luppen podcast. “You have more energy when you win the ball back.

“Otherwise, you’re constantly running in behind, or you feel like you can’t press because they’re always beating you, and you also feel like you can’t retreat because you’re not used to it. And that’s where we suffered the most last season, and that’s why our play on the ball also looked so poor.”

Madrid’s defensive woes were on show at the Club World Cup. / IMAGO/Nicolo Campo

Asked what Real Madrid need to re-establish themselves as a genuine powerhouse again, Kroos insisted a strong system is far more important than signing new players.

“To get back to the top, the most important thing in my opinion is focus, a system, and how that new system would work and be implemented,” he explained. “And from that, you can measure which player is missing, depending on the type of football you want to play.

“That’s what I trust Xabi to do, that he will convey a clear idea. It’s all about dominance. And if they defend better, they’ll achieve it on the other end too.”

High-ranking officials at Real Madrid are also believed to be concerned by the lack of defensive solidarity, and hopes that such issues would disappear following Ancelotti’s departure were quickly extinguished at the Club World Cup.

Real Madrid’s group stage was littered with key mistakes at the back, and those errors persisted into a knockout stage which saw Alonso’s side concede twice against Borussia Dortmund before the brutal 4–0 loss at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain.

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