Toni Kroos, despite being adamant that Real Madrid will learn from their mistakes to eliminate Chelsea in the Champions League quarter-final, has admitted that nobody wanted to draw the current European and world champions.
Both teams are heading into the rematch of last season's Champions League semi-final in very different form. Carlo Ancelotti is under massive pressure in the Spanish capital after the most recent El Clasico thrashing. Meanwhile, since the sanctions were handed to the Blues, Thomas Tuchel's side have strung together six wins on the bounce in all competitions, which has them as favourites to progress from the Champions League quarter-final.
Tuchel has already had his say on the situation labelling the tie ahead of a 'tough' one and Sergio Aguero and Marcos Alonso have both followed suit with what they have had to say ahead of showpiece event next month. "We already showed last year what we are capable of. It's a different year, another moment, but we're facing two great teams and we'll try to give everything to reach the semi-finals," the left-back told Spanish outlet Diario AS.
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"I think there are no favourites. At this point, any team is complicated and it will be a beautiful and difficult tie for sure. Let's leave it there, at 50% chance for each. We were a very balanced team. In these close qualifiers, the little details make the difference. We were a team in every way. We defended very well, we were an uncomfortable team to play with, we defended all eleven and the small details made the difference. At this point in the Champions League everything is very even and it depends on very small details."
He then added on Real Madrid individually after what they did last time out against Paris Saint-Germain: "I knew from before the tie that Madrid was a very dangerous team. As superior as PSG were for much of the tie, you can never give Madrid up for dead. Of course, it's always difficult to face Real Madrid at any time and especially in a competition like the Champions League." Kroos had made a big 'elimination' claim initially that contradicted what both Alonso and Aguero had to say but it he has also admitted that 'nobody' wanted to draw the Blues.
"They are the current Champions League champions, so it couldn’t be more difficult," Kroos said on his podcast with his brother Felix via the Metro. "There could hardly be a bigger hurdle, but we have to concentrate on ourselves, and if we play well, it’s possible to do a lot of things.
"We have to try to be very good because that’s what we will have to be to reach the semi-finals. Probably nobody wanted PSG in the last 16, and probably nobody wanted Chelsea in the quarter-finals.
"But that’s the way things are, and we have to accept them."
