Germany are out of the Euros: Toni Kroos's career is over. Even in the dying seconds, it was him who stood over his country's final free-kick, as they scrambled to get an equaliser. He was always the conductor.
It's his team. This is his tournament: whether he'd win it or not.
When pundits talked about how “experienced” this Germany side are, it was shorthand for Toni Kroos being able to control an elite-level game of football as if he’s in his back garden. He's been the heartbeat of this team: even towards the end.
He was one of few. Kroos was utterly spellbinding for Germany at the 2014 World Cup but following a move to Real Madrid, he faded into the background.
It was an interesting career decision; he was arguably the best no.10 in world football but at the Bernabeu, he drifted into a deeper midfield role. He could have commanded the same attention as someone like Mesut Ozil, James Rodriguez or Bruno Fernandes. He chose not to.
Toni Kroos has been imperious for Los Blancos – arguably the unsung hero of that midfield. Luka Modric sparkled as the flashy dribbler, Casemiro caught the eye as the opposite, while Kroos received fewer plaudits: the anti-Galactico, if you like. When Real Madrid knocked Bayern Munich out of the Champions League in 2017, all the talk was typically of Cristiano Ronaldo, putting Germans on arses on his lonesome, with three goals.
It should have been about Kroos: vision so impeccable, that he left Bayern just as their empire ended and Real’s began.
He’s not just unsung in his own team, either. Debates of the great midfielders come and go, of Xavi and Iniesta, Pirlo, Lampard, Gerrard, Scholes, even Zidane himself. No one seems to pipe up with Kroos’s number. He certainly has the consistency over the past decade to deserve a place at the table – and his dismantling of Brazil in 2014 was the most iconic international performance since Zidane toyed with the Selecao in 2006.
On pure ability, the German is up there with anyone. His ability to seamlessly turn his hand to any midfield role over the past half-decade is pretty much unrivalled by his peers.
He had a fan in Johan Cruyff but he didn’t have the mystique of playing tiki-taka. He doesn’t have a vineyard, a Wikiquotes page or fellow professionals fawning over his raking balls. He’s a nerdy German, not a sexy Spaniard. Manuel Lanzini, Paul Pogba, Santi Cazorla, N’Golo Kante and Jack Wilshere have all been referenced in grime songs. It’s hard to imagine Kroos – apparently a big fan of James Blunt, Olly Murs and Robbie Williams – popping up in a Dave track any time soon.
As he trudges away from the Stuttgart grass and reflects on a life in the game where he's won pretty much everything worth stacking your house with as a footballer, Kroos will rue the final few weeks of a career in which fate pitted his team against the only flawless opponent it could – at only a quarter-final stage. He may wonder his legacy.
Well, it's that no one has been able to get within five yards of him. Ever. He's been three steps ahead of everyone else for the entirety of his life: he retired from Germany before they realised how good they had it and left at the top leaving fans wanting more.
And as time passes by, he'll be thoroughly underappreciated by future generations who won't be able to measure his influence by numbers, stats or even the nights he chose to spend in the limelight.
At least over the last few weeks, we've been given a reason to watch him especially, rather than just let him fade into the background as usual. And it's been a pleasure. Watch the game and you may miss Kroos: watch Kroos and you'll see the game.
More Euro 2024 stories
While the favourites will all be hoping to reach the final of Euro 2024, they'll first need to get through some tricky fixtures in the opening stages of the tournament.
It's possible to watch all 51 games at the tournament quite easily, though, with each nation's kits set to stand out across Germany this summer.
The squads are close to being finalised, too, with Gareth Southgate's England side and Steve Clarke's Scotland team all coming together nicely ahead of the tournament.
