A cruel fate. Pedri had hoped Spain would end the Real Madrid legend’s career. Kroos robbed him of the rest of the Euros with this hard foul, got away without a card

An early final, the two highest scoring teams of the ongoing European Championships faced each other in the quarter-finals. The home team, Germany, were challenged by Spain. But right from the start, they had to deal with a major complication. Pedri had to make a substitution because of an injury.

• Spain faced a major complication from the start
• Kroos had Barcelona stars in his sights
• Pedri will miss the rest of the championship

The EURO 2024 quarter-finals kicked off at 18:00 on Friday with a match that was billed as an early final. Germany and Spain, the two most productive teams of this year’s championship, faced each other.

For the Spanish media, the duel was also interesting because the local national team was able to end the career of a legend who has spent the vast majority of his career with Real Madrid. Toni Kroos will retire after the championship and in the quarter-finals he was to face not only his teammates from the club scene, but also counterparts and rivals from Barcelona.

It was one of Barcelona’s stars who made an interesting comment before the duel. Pedri, with all due respect to Kroos, loudly groaned that the match against Spain would be the last of the Real Madrid legend’s career.

“I admire him, he is a legend, he has done a lot for football. Still, I hope the game against us will be the last of his career,” the promising midfielder told Marca.

Unfortunately, this statement backfired on him. And it is Kroos who is to blame.

Pedri didn’t finish the game, Kroos injured him

Toni Kroos started the game strongly. First he fouled the 16-year-old gem of Spain and Barcelona Lamine Yamal quite hard, shortly afterwards he also stepped on the aforementioned midfielder. Pedri injured his knee and left the pitch in tears in the eighth minute.

He was replaced on the pitch by Dani Olmo. Interestingly, the German midfielder did not see a yellow card for a single foul. Many fans and experts agree that had it been someone else, he could have seen not only a yellow card, but maybe even a red card.

In any case, Pedri has had major health problems in recent seasons and Kroos’ intervention didn’t help him. Moreover, according to Transfermarkt, the only 21-year-old midfielder has missed 25 competitive games last season alone due to injuries.

The Spanish Football Federation quickly confirmed that Pedri has a knee sprain and will not play in the championship. The player will undergo further tests.

Source: UEFA, Marca, X