Bayern Munich star Joshua Kimmich can look across the pitch on Wednesday and see a player he admires — Toni Kroos.
The two Germany internationals have been in contact since the matchup was determined.
“We texted each other once because we spoke before, in the national team about a possible meeting in the semifinals… And we made it and we were both really happy about it. I think, both games, us against Arsenal and them against Man City, were maybe 50-50 matches. And we are both happy that we made it into the semifinals,” Kimmich told AS (as captured by @iMiaSanMia).
For Kimmich, Kroos’ return to the German national team might have been one of the major reasons for his move back to right-back for club and country.
“Yeah, of course, I’m always happy to see him. Especially in the national team. I’m really happy to have him back there. It is always nice to play with him in the team. And I also enjoy it when I play against him. When we met in 2018 in the semi-finals it was the first against each other. But now we want to beat them because, like you said, in the past we didn’t do it. So this is our next chance,” said Kimmich.
It is safe to assume that Kimmich is not one of the people who refer to Kroos as ‘Querpass-Toni” (Sideways pass Toni).
“If you look at it objectively, you don’t have to defend Toni — because success proves him absolutely right. Anyone like Toni who plays in the most successful team in recent years is beyond all doubt. His style of play is actually not based on many sideways passes. Toni is someone who actually plays very, very vertically and often looks for the solution forward,” Kimmich noted.
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