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Toni Kroos has made the decision to retire from football at the end of the summer, after he potentially helps Real Madrid win the Champions League. Currently, the Madridistas will be focused on facing Borussia Dortmund at Wembley on June 1 in the ultimate European game of the season. However, it will likely be the last time Kroos will be seen in Los Blancos white.
The German international will also play for his country at the Euros this summer, and after that, he will officially hang his boots. It has been a remarkable career for Toni Kroos, who left Bayern Munich for Real Madrid in the summer of 2014.
He has gone on to become one of the best players in Los Blancos' recent history. The midfielder has won a remarkable 21 trophies with the club, lifting four La Liga titles at the Santiago Bernabeu. He was also a part of the squad that won three consecutive Champions League trophies.
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Real Madrid have to say goodbye to their midfield talisman and seek out a replacement, but he won't be the first massive player to part ways with the Spanish giants. Let's take a look at five legendary players who have left the Santiago Bernabeu in recent history:
#5 Gareth Bale
Gareth Bale struggled in his final years at the Santiago Bernabeu, playing a combined 21 La Liga games in his last two seasons, scoring three goals. However, he had already cemented his legendary status before the eventual dwindling of his career came about, as he had 173 direct goal contributions in 258 games for the club.
The Welshman was a ruthless force in the club's attacking trident that included legends like Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema. His important goals for the club, especially that bicycle kick in the 2018 Champions League final against Liverpool, cannot be erased. He may have spent his final years injured and focused on golf, but Gareth Bale cannot be forgotten in Madrid white.
#4 Karim Benzema
It is quite telling that Karim Benzema, who left the Santiago Bernabeu in the summer of 2023, has not yet been replaced by the club. It is not usually easy to replace a player who gave their all for a club, like Benzema did for Madrid, contributing to 519 goals in 648 appearances.
He joined up with the squad back in 2009 and quickly became indispensable, winning five Champions League trophies and four La Liga titles. He exceeded expectations the season before his exit, guiding Madrid with a ruthless goalscoring drive that saw him score 44 goals in just 46 games. It was little surprise that he went on to win the Ballon d'Or, before eventually leaving the club for Arabian shores.
#3 Casemiro
Casemiro might be struggling at Manchester United to reach the peaks he often touched throughout his career, but the Brazilian was a true midfield enforcer for the Madridistas. He was the cog in the wheel across much of their successful years over the last decade after joining the club as a young 20-year-old from Sao Paulo.
The legendary midfielder went on to win 18 trophies across 336 games for the club, holding the midfield behind Toni Kroos and Luka Modric. He won five Champions League trophies with Madrid, through a period where the club were seemingly unstoppable in Europe. Now with Man United, he will be hoping for a resurgence of the midfield stability he once provided for the Spanish giants.
#2 Sergio Ramos
It is not always easy to define just how much quality a defender provides within a team, but Sergio Ramos makes it fairly easy. There are few legendary Madridistas who can match up to the super center-back's leadership and ruthlessness on the pitch. Joining the club as a teenager from Sevilla in 2005, he grew to become one of the biggest players in the club's history, playing 671 games for them.
What's more, Sergio Ramos was averaging more than a goal every seven games, bringing his total tally to 101 goals for the club. Some of them were special too, including his 93rd minute header against Atletico Madrid in the 2014 Champions League final. Ramos' goal pushed the game intro extra-time, and three more goals from the Madridistas saw them win La Decima.
#1 Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo is easily the biggest player in Madrid's recent history; some will argue in the entire history. The superstar forward was the true Galacticos signing, as he showed up at the Santiago Bernabeu, and took charge of their final third, scoring 451 goals in 438 appearances for the club.
No player has scored more goals for Real Madrid, and this is hardly a surprise. He won four Ballon d'Ors with the club, and will likely have won a lot more if he did not have to contend with Barcelona and the legendary Lionel Messi. Cristiano Ronaldo eventually left the club for Juventus in 2018, before moving to Manchester United, and finally, Al-Nassr, where he currently plies his trade.
