Europe: European Championship
AET
2 - 1
(1 - 1)(0 - 0)
Spain
Germany
D. Olmo (51), M. Merino (119), D. Carvajal (120)
F. Wirtz (89)
By Rune Gjerulff@runegjerulff

Kroos reflects on final match of his career: "The dream has been shattered"

Toni Kroos has shared his thoughts on Germany's brutal quarter-final defeat to Spain in what turned out to be the final game of his illustrious career.

 

Germany crashed out of the Euros in the most brutal fashion on Friday night, losing 2-1 to Spain after Mikel Merino's last-gasp winner.

With Germany's elimination, Toni Kroos has officially retired from football, having made his intention to hang up his boots after the Euros clear before the tournament.

Commenting on his final game, Kroos said in a post-match interview:

"Of course, it was a game where we all gave everything not to lose. We were very close and that makes it all the more bitter.

"I think we can all be proud because everyone was able to go the extra mile. I think we can all be proud because we were able to give hope back to football in Germany. But we're extremely disappointed because we wanted to go a bit further.

“At the moment, the elimination outweighs everything because we all had a big goal together. And that dream that we all had has been shattered to some extent. Even if we realize in the next few days that we played a good tournament. It's extremely bitter.”

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