Toni Kroos Takes Unique Stance on Real Madrid Fans Booing Vinicius Jr

Vinicius Jr, Kylian Mbappé and Jude Bellingham all came to a different conclusion to Kroos.

Toni Kroos (left) made more than 200 appearances alongside Vinicius Junior. | Jürgen Fromme-firo sportphoto/Getty Images

Toni Kroos dismissed the recent unrest directed at Vinicius Junior from Real Madrid fans with the counterintuitive line: “A player who hasn’t been booed at the Bernabéu isn’t a great player.”

Madrid’s home crowd was in vociferous mood throughout last weekend’s scratchy victory over La Liga’s relegation-battling Levante. The boos were prolific but Vinicius Jr came in for more criticism than most.

The Brazilian forward took issue with this treatment. After having a hand in four of Madrid’s six goals during a Champions League thumping of Monaco, Vinicius Jr came out to defend himself after a “very tough” few days. “I’m always in the spotlight, and I don’t want to be there for things off the pitch—I want to be there for what I do on it and for everything I’ve done for this club.”

Jude Bellingham delivered a pointed celebration in response to the fan treatment while Kylian Mbappé launched an impassioned defense of his teammate. The French forward didn’t specifically take issue with Madrid fans expressing their discontent with the team, but argued: “If they’re going to boo, it should be the whole squad. You shouldn’t single out one player. We’re playing poorly as a team, and we have the character to change this on the pitch.”

Vinicius Junior was booed off the pitch at the weekend by Madridistas. | Alvaro Medranda/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images

Kroos had an even more extreme take, insisting that Vinicius Jr should treat his negative attention as a ringing endorsement of his standing in the game. “They rarely criticize smaller players,” he pointed out on his podcast Einfach mal Luppen.

“You could say this is Real Madrid, probably not at its best. But it pretty much describes what it means to be here, to sign here,” Kroos said of the high standards set by the club’s fanbase. “Whether with the press or the fans, they rarely criticize smaller players.

“The big names are always chosen, for better or for worse.”

Not that Kroos accepted this as the best method—simply the most common one. “If you’re already being booed before the match, it doesn’t make it any easier to achieve what the club and everyone want: to win and play well,” he insisted. “It’s the current situation, which isn’t good, and the only way out is through results, attitude, and play. We’ve all experienced it.”

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Kroos Looks on the Bright Side of Setbacks

Toni Kroos retired as a Real Madrid great. | Matthias Hangst/Getty Images

While Vinicius Jr has hardly warranted the singular treatment which he has received, the backlash from Real Madrid fans against the team as a whole has not come out of the blue. Three days before descending into the Bernabéu of boos Madrid conspired to lose 3–2 to struggling second-tier outfit Albacete.

Kroos also has experience of a historic cup upset. The German came off the bench during a 2–1 defeat to third-tier Alcoyano in the winter of 2021. On either side of that setback, Madrid would win La Liga.

“I was also knocked out of the Copa del Rey by a third-division team,” Kroos recalled. “Things aren’t always perfect now, but even that golden generation went through rough patches.”

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