Madrid: Germany and Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos lashed out at former teammate Mesut Ozil for the way he announced his international retirement, saying the reasons hardly made sense. “Basically, Mesut is a deserved international and as a player, he deserved a better departure,” Kroos told ‘Bild’. “But the way he resigned was not in order.”
Ozil, 29, called it a day to everyone’s surprise last month after Germany went out at the group stage of the World Cup. The Arsenal playmaker reasoned that he had faced racism and disrespect from the German football federation (DFB) because of his Turkish roots.
“The parts in his statement that are rightly addressed are unfortunately overshadowed by the significantly higher amount of nonsense,” Kroos said. “I think he knows very well that racism within the national team and the DFB does not exist.”
The 2014 World Champions Germany performed miserably in the recently concluded World Cup in Russia as they were ousted in the group stages for the first time in 80 years.