Robert Andrichmidfielder of Bayer Leverkusen and the German national team, spoke today at a press conference in view of tomorrow’s match against Denmark valid for the round of 16 of Euro 2024. Here are his statements reported by Bildin which he focuses on one of his teammates.
How grateful are you for Toni Kroos’ return? This is how his international career truly began in March…
“His return was rather inconsequential. But with the idea that the national coach had with him, Kroos’ comeback also worked in my favor. A new beginning began, which fortunately went quite well for me” .
In role discussions with national coach Julian Nagelsmann the topic was that you were the man next to Kroos?
“The comeback wasn’t decided in a month, there must have been a lot of discussions. Toni must have brought his idea of football into it. They must have talked about how well Toni is doing, the coach must have taken him on board”.
Are you the “emperor’s bodyguard”, Toni Kroos’ cleaning lady?
“All the nicknames have been mentioned many times. We play together in the same position and it is clear to everyone that he dictates the pace of the game and also plays the decisive passes. And with my style in the duels I try to give security to the whole team, but I still do some great things with the ball. I think I can do that quite well myself. It is important that we get along very, very well, that he can move freely and that I protect him, as well as the other offensive players. Things seem to be going well so far.”
What is your general connection with Toni Kroos? Have you known him for a long time through his brother Felix?
“We haven’t actually known each other that long. I played with Felix at Union for a year, we are very good friends and have never lost sight of each other. And we have a team together at the Icon League, which Toni founded. As a result, there were contacts with Toni at a Media Day in Madrid. But it wasn’t clear yet whether he would return to the national team. So we couldn’t talk about whether we would play together.”
Is there anything Kroos can learn from you?
“I hope! You should ask him, I’d be interested to know what he says. But in general Toni is not so decisive that he says: ‘Everything I do is good and I don’t need to look at anything else from anyone else.’