Ruud ⚽🍿📸

🚨 Toni Kroos on Harry Kane winning the Ballon d’Or ahead of Kylian Mbappe: “I’ve seen some people saying Mbappe was robbed. I don’t agree. Kylian is an exceptional footballer. I know what he can do, and I watched his performance against Barcelona. Scoring twice in a Classico is impressive. But I think people have become confused about what they’re actually arguing. Are we discussing who is the more exciting player to watch? Who is faster? Who can dribble past 3 defenders? Or are we discussing who had the better season? Because those are different conversations. I remember something from my time at Madrid. After one match, we were sitting in the dressing room and one of the younger players was watching highlights on his phone. He showed me a goal and said, ‘Toni, look at this. Incredible player.’ I watched it and said, ‘Yes, very good.’ Then he showed me another clip. And another. Eventually I asked him, ‘Did his team win?’ He said, ‘I don’t know.’ I told him, ‘Then maybe we should find that out before deciding he’s the best player on the pitch.’ He laughed, but I wasn’t really joking. Football has become very focused on moments. A player scores a spectacular goal, everybody shares the video, and suddenly we’re discussing whether he’s the best in the world. But a season isn’t one moment. It’s what you do in February when your team is struggling. It’s how you perform when the opponent knows exactly what you’re going to do. It’s whether your teammates can rely on you every week. That’s why I respect Harry Kane so much. People look at him and see a goalscorer. But watch what he actually does. He comes short to receive the ball. He helps his midfielders. He sees passes that some midfielders don’t see. And then, somehow, he’s still in the penalty area when the chance arrives. I remember playing against Tottenham when Harry was there. Before the match, we discussed his movement, because you couldn’t simply tell your centre-backs to stay close to him. If they followed him, he could create space behind them. If they stayed where they were, he could turn and find somebody running into that space. I remember saying to one of our defenders, ‘Don’t let him make you decide everything for him.’ He looked at me and said, ‘That’s easier to say when you’re not the one marking him.’ He had a point. And Harry has been doing that for years. The difference now is that he’s finally receiving the recognition that should come with that level of consistency. Mbappe can do things Kane cannot do. Of course. But Kane can also do things Mbappe cannot do. And I don’t understand why admitting that has become so difficult. I played with Cristiano Ronaldo. I know what a truly exceptional attacker looks like. But even Cristiano understood that football isn’t decided by how impressive you look in a thirty-second video. You have to produce. Again and again. Harry has done that. And the funny thing is that people are now using Kylian’s two goals against Barcelona to argue about an award that recognises an entire season. It was a brilliant performance. But if you need to explain why somebody deserved the Ballon d’Or, you should be able to discuss more than what he did yesterday. Harry Kane won the award because of what he delivered over the season. Not because he shouted the loudest. Not because he had the most supporters arguing for him online. And certainly not because somebody felt sorry for him after his years at Tottenham. He earned it. You can prefer Mbappe as a footballer. That’s your opinion. But preferring a player doesn’t automatically mean he deserved every award that somebody else won. I think that’s something football supporters should learn to separate. Tonight belongs to Harry Kane. And I don’t think he owes anybody an apology for that.”