Vincent Kompany believes Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos has overtaken teammate Bastian Schweinsteiger as Germany’s chief playmaker.
The Manchester City centre-back is working as a BBC pundit during the Euro 2016 tournament because injury prevented his participation with Belgium, and he watched Kroos in his inch-perfect display against Ukraine in Germany’s opening game.
“Toni Kroos is such an intelligent player. He has evolved, you wondered if anyone could do what Bastian Schweinsteiger does, but Kroos has maybe taken it to another level,” said Kompany on BBC.
Kroos registered an assist and dictated large portions of the World Champions’s possession throughout the game, as well as hitting the bar with a thunderous long range strike.
The 26-year-old midfielder had a pass accuracy rate of 93% in the game against the Ukrainians, as well as making four key passes. His variety of passing is displayed by the fact his average pass length was 19 metres going forward and 20 metres going backward.
Kroos was part of the Real Madrid team who knocked Kompany’s City out of the Champions League – a tournament the German went onto win – his second triumph with as many clubs.
Das Mannschaft won the game 2-0 thanks to goals from Shkodran Mustafi and Schweinsteiger, who won his 116th cap for his country, following a turbulent season with Manchester United – who he joined last summer after signing a deal worth £275,000 a week.
The Germans are expected to do what only France and Spain have done before, win the European Championships two years after winning the World Cup.
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