LBoth of them have blonde hair, wear the ‘8’ for Real Madrid and play in the midfield, but you only need to see them play to realize that Fede Valverde and Toni Kroos are practically nothing alike on the pitch. Two completely different styles that have coexisted for years in the white core, but The German’s absence has forced the Uruguayan to assume his duties.
Kroos gave him his number and his weight in the locker room, but his different virtues made it difficult to think that he could also give up his role on the team. However, the lack of creative profiles in the white squad has left Valverde as the person in charge of making the Madrid team workhaving to fulfill the functions assumed by the now retired German midfielder.
More and better passes
A change that becomes very evident when seeing their numbers, which have improved in almost all aspects. He makes 63.3 passes per game, which is 4 more than last year and 12 more than two years ago. Also more progressive passes, that is, passes to advance meters (from 7.15 to 7.61 per match). Even his percentage of success, something in which Kroos excelled greatly and in which Fede has positioned himself as one of the best in Europe. He completes 91.3% of the passes he attempts, leaving behind 89.8% of the 23/24. A real insurance.
His colleagues look for him more and more and it shows in the number of times he touches the ball, which has increased to almost 80 times per collision. Although these numbers do not change his style, the Uruguayan continues to be that midfielder with great range and energy that He starts driving the ball whenever he can.
Another of Kroos’ most characteristic gestures were his long passeswhich served to change the orientation of the game in seconds. Fede has greatly increased his numbers in this type of hits. It’s not just that he makes more trips of 30 or more meters, but his percentage of success in these is also outrageous. From 68.1% the previous season, it has gone to 81.7%even surpassing the teacher, who had 76%. The Madrid orchestra is demanding a conductor and, for the moment, it has been Valverde who has taken the baton.
Still far from Toni
Looking at the numbers and statistics, no one can deny thatValverde has gained weight in the team’s game and that he has improved his role as an organizing midfielder, but It is still very far from what German was. In fact, in every bad result for Real Madrid his figure once again hovers over him as a solution to the team’s problems and Kroos’s hierarchy when it comes to getting the ball from behind is something that Neither Fede nor any other footballer on the planet can match it.
Although the Uruguayan make more passes and touch the ball more timesis very far from the figures of his former teammate. The charrúa has come into contact with the ball in 79.8 chances per gamebut there is still a lot of room until 112.5 than the German did. Same as in the passes, with the insufficient Valverde’s 63.3 per crash compared to Kroos’ 97.
A difference that becomes more accentuated in the final meters. The presence of the former white ‘8’ for almost a decade was a threat to rivals. In the final third he distributed almost 14 passes per match (compared to Valverde’s 7.84). That data, added to the key passes, the passes that end in a shot and the assists They explain why Real Madrid’s forwards are having fewer chances.
Valverde is having a great start to the seasonperhaps the best of his career, but you cannot demand the same from him as Kroos, because Fede can dye his hair, wear his number or even wear his boots, but their styles are still completely different. Even so, the charrúa is becoming what he once dreamed of and, in the absence of his idol, He has continued to grow to be the leader of Real Madrid’s midfield.
