Toni Kroos is one of the best central midfielders of the 21st century. He made his name playing for German giants Bayern Munich, the team that introduced him to the world of professional football.
After a few years of playing in the German powerhouse’s squad, he decided to move to Real Madrid, a decision which proved to be a very successful one since he won multiple titles with the Galacticos.
Kroos won the 2014 World Cup with Germany and has also won the UEFA Champions League on five occasions, as well as multiple Bundesliga, Copa Del Rey and La Liga titles.
He has previously been dubbed by Spanish publication Marca as “a one-man orchestra”, while Germany coach Joachim Löw lauded the “symmetry and balance” he brings to a side and former Real boss and legend Zinedine Zidane called him the “perfect” player
So, one thing as clear as crystal is that Kroos is one of the most experienced and successful footballers playing today.
Veteran football players are often known to have a few quirks about them, which may seem weird or superstitious. For Toni Kroos, it has to do with his boots.
The midfielder has been using the same model of boots for a really long time. The cleats that he is so attached to are Adidas 11pro.
Belonging to the adiPURE series, 11pro was the most radical overhaul in the line-up. It carried forward the comfort element of the adiPURE series while still being enabled for Adidas’s MiCoach technology for performance measurement and optimisation.
It fashioned kangaroo leather instead of traditional soft leather.
The company stopped selling these a long time ago, but they made an exception after a personal request by the German.
In fact, they made a special edition of this model solely for Kroos.
The Galactico does not like flashy and colourful boots, instead preferring a neat and inconspicuous look.
The ex-Bayern Munich star prefers white boots to compliment the aesthetic of his kit and shares a strong hatred for black boots.
In the recently launched 5-hour long interview labelled ‘Kroos90: the most important interview of my career’, he was quoted saying – “My white boots? It’s the aesthetics. We play in white, they look good with the kit. It’d be ugly with black boots. If I lower my eyes & see the white boots I feel good immediately with black boots I’d be a 2nd division player.”
Though, not every player gives so much heed to the colour of their boots as the German.
Kroos’ club teammate Dani Ceballos often wears black studs to compliment the white Madrid home kit.
Given the German’s recent comments, Dani asked him, in humour of course, whether he was a bad person for wearing black on whites.
Kroos reacted with just emojis, with hearts for white and sick for black.
Here is another pretty famous player who is not following Toni’s white-on-white logic. And we can say for certain that he is not a 2nd division player.
Be that as it may, if it works for Kroos, it works for us. His shoes have helped him achieve a great number of things and if he likes them white, so be it.
Lest we forget, psychological factors in football are just as important as physical ones.
