Real Madrid and Germany midfielder Toni Kroos has said he was perceived as a “Nazi” after he criticized former teammate Mesut Ozil over his bitter exit from international football.
Ozil quit the German team in the aftermath of their ignominious exit at the group stage of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, claiming he had been made a scapegoat for Germany’s failings and that he was the target of racism at numerous levels due to his Turkish heritage.
Kroos – who won the World Cup alongside Ozil in Brazil in 2014 – was critical of the way in which the playmaker handled his departure, saying at the time that “Mesut is a deserved international and as a player he deserved a better departure. But the way he resigned was not in order.
“The parts in his statement that are rightly addressed are unfortunately overshadowed by the significantly higher amount of nonsense.
“I think he knows very well that racism within the national team and the DFB (German football federation) does not exist.”
Speaking in an Instagram Live chat with German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the 31-year-old Real Madrid star has now claimed he was branded a Nazi for those comments.
“After the 2018 World Cup I said that I did not like the retirement of Mesut Ozil and the manner in which he did it,” Kroos said, Goal reported.
“And then I was directly a Nazi for a lot of people: blond, blue eyes … everything fit for a lot of people.
“I managed to overcome it, anyone can hide behind a fake profile and then insult other people without anything to stop them.”
Ozil went from being crowned his nation’s player of the year for five out of six seasons in 2011-2016, before becoming something of a pariah.
Germany’s build-up to the World Cup in Russia was overshadowed by accusations of mixed loyalties and questionable conduct after Ozil and teammate Ilkay Gundogan – also a German international of Turkish heritage – were photographed with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Ozil was unrepentant and has grown closer to Erdogan, even having the Turkish president as the best man at his wedding.
The 32-year-old star left Arsenal in January to join Turkish giants Fenerbahce.
Kroos, meanwhile, continues to play for Germany and reached 100 caps for his country in their game against Switzerland in October.
Real Madrid and Germany midfielder Toni Kroos has said he was perceived as a “Nazi” after he criticized former teammate Mesut Ozil over his bitter exit from international football. Read Full Article at RT.com Read More
Central planning has been so pervasively normalized that whole sectors of society have become dependent on the largesse of the fiat monster. Bitcoin fixes this. All living organism share a universal behavior set called self preservation. Self preservation is the set of behaviors that ensures the survival of an organism. Bitcoin is financial self preservation. […]
The Taliban has staged a military parade in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, celebrating its victory over the US and showing off numerous American-made vehicles seized during the rapid takeover of the country. A massive column of assorted military vehicles, carrying hundreds of Taliban fighters, rode through Kandahar on Wednesday. The vehicles, seized from […]
As well known, the Kiev regime has been carrying out irresponsible attacks against the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) since last year. Russian officials, independent journalists and ordinary citizens have repeatedly reported the Ukrainian strikes, with strong suspicions that the regime deliberately wants to provoke a nuclear leakage in the region. However, Kiev now seriously […]
