Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos has explained why he grew frustrated by a reporter's questions following Saturday's Champions League final.
Kroos added a fourth Champions League trophy to his collection of silverware after helping Madrid to a 1-0 win over Liverpool in Paris.
The 32-year-old played the entire match for Carlo Ancelotti's side, making three tackles, winning three fouls and completing a team-high 77 passes out of 83 attempted (92.8).
No Madrid player had more touches (92) or completed more passes in Liverpool's half (34), while Kroos was also one of only five players to create a chance for the Spanish giants.
Madrid delivered a fine counter-attacking display, soaking up Liverpool's pressure, though Los Blancos did rely heavily on goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, who made nine saves, including outstanding stops from Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane.
That tally of saves is the most in a Champions League final since Opta began collecting date in the 2003-04 season, with Liverpool having 24 shots in total.
In a post-match interview with a German reporter, Kroos was asked if he had been surprised by how much Madrid had suffered.
The former Bayern Munich midfielder quickly grew frustrated and, when the line of questioning continued, refused to carry on with the interview, walking away from the reporter, stating: "Ninety minutes and you only come up with s***** questions."
Speaking on the podcast he co-hosts with his brother Felix - 'Einfach mal Luppen' - Kroos explained his frustration.
"At the time I was just p***** off. I was p***** off at him," Kroos said, as reported by AS.
"Of course we had [suffered]. They have to go through two or three phases of pressure, I also told him that when he asked the question.
"But that's normal. What do you expect? That we dominate Liverpool for 90 minutes? They are a world-class team. We had to beat them and that's what we did.
"I wouldn't have said we put them up against the wall from the first minute to the 90th minute.
"I'm the first to say that it was a close game and Liverpool probably had a few more chances. But we won the game, like in the last few months.
"But instead I hear that we won unfairly. I don't give a s*** in a final, you have to win it."
Northern Ireland’s young squad have everything to play for – Michael O’Neill
Michael O’Neill believes Northern Ireland still have everything to play for in their bid to reach Euro 2024 even as injuries hit hard during the qualifying campaign.
With a trip to Denmark and a home match against Kazakhstan up next, O’Neill has named a 28-man squad that includes five uncapped players and a total of 15 with fewer than 10 caps.
Although Jonny Evans returns from the hamstring injury that prevented him from adding to his 100 caps in March, Steven Davis, Stuart Dallas, Corry Evans, Liam Boyce, Josh Magennis, Conor Washington and Shane Ferguson remain sidelined, forcing O’Neill to rely on youth.
When O’Neill returned to the Northern Ireland job in December there was an opportunity to capitalise on a favourable qualifying draw, and although that remains possible, the absence of his most experienced players is making it a much tougher ask.
Northern Ireland began with a 2-0 win in San Marino in their group opener, but a 1-0 home defeat to Finland highlighted the difficulties.
Asked if the job had been harder than envisaged, O’Neill said: “I suppose it depends on what the expectation is for this campaign going forward as well. I still think we have got everything to play for in this campaign.
“The next two games are going to be very important and then obviously we have a double-header away in September (against Slovenia and Kazakhstan) which will be difficult, so we are going to ask a lot of a number of young players in this group.
“The senior players that we have with us, we really can’t afford to lose any more. I think we have eight players out who could all equally play for us, who have all been established players with a high number of caps.
“That is the situation that unfortunately we just have to deal with.”
It has meant O’Neill has been juggling the need for results with the need to nurture young players, with Conor Bradley and Shea Charles in particular asked to take on significant roles.
“It is a different approach from taking a team and saying ‘Right, how do we qualify? What is our route to qualification? How do we get enough points?’” O’Neill added.
“Of course, that is always in the background but I think it is more about the integration of the younger players and they will have to learn very quickly on the job if we are going to take that next step.”
O’Neill has hosted a series of training camps with senior players and under-21s in recent weeks, aiming to keep fitness levels high after the end of domestic campaigns while running the rule over younger faces.
Nottingham Forest defender Aaron Donnelly, West Ham teenager Callum Marshall and Larne forward Lee Bonis have all used the opportunity to earn their first senior call-ups.
While the return of Evans is a major boost, the Leicester defender will come into camp dealing with the disappointment of relegation and facing uncertainty over his future.
“He is very disappointed for them to go down and he is in a situation where he is out of contract as well,” O’Neill said. “I am sure if he was playing his football elsewhere next season he would have liked to have left Leicester in a slightly different way but he was just unfortunate this season.
“Probably, I think by his own admission, he pushed very hard to get back because I think he does make a difference to Leicester’s team. I think you saw that in the final three games that he was fit to play in. But I know he is keen to be a part of this squad and play.
“It is big for us to have him back, obviously we missed him in March and I believe that Jonny still has a lot of football left in him, both with Northern Ireland and wherever he chooses to play his football next season.”
West Ham fans line streets to toast Europa Conference League champions
West Ham enjoyed a heroes’ welcome as fans lined the streets of east London to celebrate their Europa Conference League glory.
The Hammers won their first major trophy since the 1980 FA Cup, and a first European title since 1965, when they beat Italian side Fiorentina 2-1 in Prague on Wednesday night.
And their jubilant supporters, decked out in the famous claret and blue on a warm and sunny evening in the capital, packed the pavements as the Hammers paraded the silverware on an open-top bus.
The squad’s journey started at the site of their former home at Upton Park and finished at Stratford Town Hall, where they enjoyed a reception.
Only West Ham fans of a certain age will ever have seen their side celebrate success like this, with a similar parade being held after that 1965 European Cup Winners’ Cup victory, where the likes of Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters got the taste of winning trophies.
But the younger generation made the most of it, climbing on lamp posts and bus stops to get the best vantage point of their heroes while also letting off flares.
David Moyes may have joined Ron Greenwood and John Lyall in earning immortality as managers to win a major trophy with the Hammers but he initially endured a lessened role on the bus, taking pictures of his players as they posed together.
But he was soon joining in with the celebrations, dancing and jigging with the trophy on his head.
View this post on InstagramLifting the trophy appears to be a fitting way for captain Declan Rice to bow out, with chairman David Sullivan confirming the England international will be allowed to leave the club this summer, with a bidding war expected to commence soon.
Rice was emotional on top of the bus, admitting it does not feel “real”.
“This is absolutely incredible, when you’re a kid and you love football as much as I do, and the lads do, you see teams having trophy parades,” he said. “I was once a kid watching teams do trophy parades and now to be doing one and captaining the side is just so, so special, I can’t even put into words.
“We knew it would be exciting and the fans would come out, I am just trying to take it all in, we don’t get to experience this ever. These moments don’t come around very often.
“I’ve seen top captains over the years lift trophies and it was my time at West Ham to lift the trophy. It doesn’t really feel real.
“At 24, captain of West Ham lifting a trophy in a European competition, I don’t think it is going to hit me for a while, but I am going to enjoy it and be as happy for as long as possible.
“Bobby Moore, Billy Bonds, I am seeing messages that I am now in that category, I don’t really know what to say. Bizarre.”
Moyes spent much of the season under pressure following a disappointing Premier League campaign, but Rice believes he is now the club’s best-ever manager.
The England midfielder added on Sky Sports News: “I think he goes down as the best manager West Ham have ever had. The circumstances, when he first came in, kept us twice, European competition, we finished fifth, sixth, a semi-final (Europa League) and now we’ve won this, he deserves all the credit he gets.
“He’s a top man and as you can see he is buzzing.”
Jarrod Bowen was West Ham’s hero in the final as he scored a 90th-minute winner, capping off a remarkable turnaround in his career having been playing at non-league Hereford nine years ago after being rejected as a youngster by Aston Villa.
“I love the game and these moments make it all worth it, the rejections and not going the way you want it,” he said.
“You fast forward 10 years and you are on an open-top bus parade for winning a European trophy so from where I have come, my mum was crying on the phone, my dad was there.
“It is a bit surreal to say I have won a European trophy from where I have come from. I love it.”
Jonny Evans back in Northern Ireland squad for Euro 2024 qualifiers
Jonny Evans is back in the Northern Ireland squad for next week’s Euro 2024 qualifiers but Michael O’Neill will once again be relying on youth with a long list of senior players still injured.
Evans – out of contract at relegated Leicester this summer – was unable to add to his 100 caps in March when he was forced to pull out of O’Neill’s first games back in charge of the national team due to a hamstring injury, but is in a 28-man squad to play Denmark away and Kazakhstan at home.
But with Steven Davis, Stuart Dallas, Corry Evans, Liam Boyce, Josh Magennis, Conor Washington and Shane Ferguson all still sidelined, O’Neill has included five uncapped players, with 15 of the 28 having fewer than 10 caps.
Nottingham Forest defender Aaron Donnelly, West Ham teenager Callum Marshall and Larne forward Lee Bonis have all received their first call-ups, with the uncapped Sean Goss and Eoin Toal again included after not featuring in March’s fixtures.
Blackpool striker Shayne Lavery returns after a hamstring injury kept him out of the last squad, although there will be a question over his fitness levels as he has managed only one appearance, as a substitute away to Norwich on the final day, since being sidelined in February.
There is also a return for Ethan Galbraith, who earned the last of his two international caps back in 2020.
The 22-year-old is a free agent this summer after leaving Manchester United, having spent last season on loan at Salford.
O’Neill has been working with several players from both the senior ranks and the under-21s at a series of training camps in recent weeks, aiming to keep his players sharp following the end of their domestic campaigns.
Northern Ireland travel to Copenhagen to face Denmark on Friday June 16 before taking on Kazakhstan at Windsor Park the following Monday.
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