Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos spoke at a press conference ahead of the Champions League semi-final first leg between the Spanish club and Manchester City.
The two teams will meet at 21:00 at the Bernabéu.
“We are fine. I never make excuses. We will not lack strength tomorrow. You can’t be tired when you’re playing a Champions League semi-final. But, of course, work can be done to improve the calendar, which is not ideal and which means that important matches are played practically one after the other,” said Kroos and added:
“But this is not a problem that appeared yesterday. That’s generally the case. It has been talked about for a long time. This has been a strange season due to the timing of the World Cup. One competition here, another there. I’ve been saying for years that it’s too much. No one wants to give up or cancel a competition because it all comes down to money. But nobody asks the players anything. No one asks us if we are satisfied, happy. I hope that will change one day”.
Toni Kroos said that a good game in defense is one of the key things in this match.
“The key will be good play, scoring goals and good defense. That’s the key against teams like City who score three, four goals a game. We are playing at home and we will try to attack and score goals. We have played many matches like this and I believe in our experience. Pep’s teams always play his style. We all know what that idea is, that’s how all the teams he led played. They are always looking for what they can improve and they do it with reinforcements like Haaland who is different from everyone else. He scored 51 goals this season, not bad. We expect a tough match against City, who are in great shape,” said Toni Kroos.
