Toni Kroos will make his comeback to the German national team in March. For Lothar Matthäus it has to be set – Hansi Müller speaks of a “delicate” topic.
Record national player Lothar Matthäus has demanded a regular place in the German national team for returning Toni Kroos. “We need him as a leader. Toni Kroos has to be established, has to be the coach’s extended arm – together with Gündoğan, Neuer, Goretzka or Müller,” said the 1990 world champion on RTL.
After his comeback to the DFB team at the 1998 World Cup in France, he only sat on the bench in the first two games, which caused a lot of questions within the team.
“There were no tournaments that suited Toni Kroos”
Meanwhile, Matthäus believes that Kroos still wants to make amends with the DFB team. “He played badly even in the last tournaments with Germany, the World Cup in Russia and the European Championships in England. They weren’t tournaments that suited Toni Kroos, one of the best players we ever had in Germany. I think that he might want to crown his national team career with a title,” he said.
Ex-national player Hansi Müller, on the other hand, is far more pessimistic. Müller told the media group “Münchner Merkur/tz”: “It is of course to some extent an indictment for the current midfielders that a player who has resigned is now becoming active again.” He sees the return of the former top performer as an “explosive and sensitive topic”.
“He can also help the team.”
Kroos himself praised Müller highly: “I still think Toni Kroos is a great footballer, otherwise he wouldn’t play for Real Madrid. He’s still the Toni Kroos we know. He can also help the team.”
Toni Kroos resigned from the DFB team after the 2021 European Championships after 106 international matches. On Thursday he announced his return to the DFB team. He will play for the national team again in the international matches in France and against the Netherlands in March.