Kroos pass to Vinicius Jr. is just genius. Talk about the weight of the pass. It’s like something from that Olympic sport, Curling, where they slide stones towards the target and have teammates alongside to sweep and brush the ice so it warms and glides better.
However, with the Kross pass to Vinicius Jr, he needed none of that. No sweeping or brushing the grass.
Kroos, at 34 years of age, is still a key player for Real Madrid. The German adds some stability and calm to the midfielder rotation. Plus, he can pass the soccer ball. That’s obviously clear! Find the killer pass, like this pass to Vinicius Jr.
Apparently, Kroos even signaled to Vinicius Jr about where to run. But I think Vinicius Jr knew though. You can see him check back to the ball and dart towards goal. A backdoor run that left the South Korean defender Kim Min-Jae in the dust. He gets dragged too far upfield and then really seems to misjudge both Kroos’ vision and the speed of Vinicius Jr.
VINI JR. WITH MADRID'S FIRST SHOT ON GOAL 💥
That ball from Toni Kroos 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/3vXSk0vM8Z
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) April 30, 2024
Regardless, the weight of the pass from Kroos made it so easy for Vinicius Jr. to slot the ball home for Real Madrid.
Kroos has played over 300 games for Real Madrid. Vinicius Jr. had played over 170. They overlap in time with Madrid for about six years now. Kroos joined in 2014 and Vinicius Jr. in 2018. They have an understanding of how one another plays on the soccer pitch.
Whereas, the Bayern Munich defender who stayed too tight to Vinicius Jr. on his backdoor cut, has played just 23 appearances so far for Bayern Munich. I wonder if he’ll start in the return leg in madrid?
Toni Kroos said this after the game about his killer pass to Vinicius Jr.: “I saw that their center backs always follow Vinicius Jr and I know Vini always makes runs into the space… that’s why the credit is to Viní. He opened the space. The pass was ok!”.
That’s an understatement. It is not often that the pass is better than the goal. In this case though the Kroos pass to Vinicius Jr is brilliant and better than the goal. It has to do most of all with the weight of the pass. Not too close to the goalkeeper or too fast for Vinicius Jr. to finish. It just sits up perfectly on the grass.
