“What he achieved was because of incredible ambition and hard work” – Real Madrid legend Toni Kroos hails Cristiano Ronaldo

Recently retired Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos has hailed his former Los Blancos teammate Cristiano Ronaldo for his ‘incredible’ professionalism and desire to improve himself. The two played together at the Santiago Bernabeu between 2014 and 2018.

While Ronaldo arrived at the club in the summer of 2009 from Manchester United, Kroos did so from Bayern Munich five years later. In four seasons together, the dup helped the club to an unprecedented three consecutive UEFA Champions League titles (2016-18) before Ronaldo moved to Juventus.

Regarded as one of the game’s best players, the 39-year-old Ronaldo is still going strong for club and country. Meanwhile, Kroos – who retired after Euro 2024 – told his academy kids about how his former teammate put in the hard yards (via Madrid Xtra):

“You should always strive to be the best version of yourself. One of my favourite examples is Cristiano Ronaldo. What people see is that he scores a ton of goals and drives fast cars. I was his next-door neighbour, and I can say that he has a lot of fast cars. I also have one (laughs).

“Every time I went to training, his car was already there. Every time I left training, his car was still there. What he achieved was because of incredible ambition and hard work. You only see the finished product. You don’t see the work he puts in.”

In his last season with Madrid in 2023-24, the 2014 FIFA World Cup winner helped the club to three titles, including their second La Liga-UEFA Champions League double in three years.

How Toni Kroos and Cristiano Ronaldo fared together at Real Madrid?

Cristiano Ronaldo (left) and Toni Kroos
Cristiano Ronaldo and Toni Kroos spent four hugely successful seasons together at Real Madrid, helping the club to one La Liga and three UEFA Champions League titles.

The duo played 171 times together across competitions for Los Blancos, recording 16 joint goal contributions. Unsurprisingly, Ronaldo scored a bulk of those goals – 12 – with Kroos scoring the remaining four.

Ronaldo is Real Madrid’s all-time record goalscorer with a staggering 450 goals in 438 games across competitions in nine seasons. Meanwhile, Kroos ended his Los Blancos stint with 28 goals and 99 assists in 465 games across competitions in 10 seasons.