How Real Madrid have adapted to life without Toni Kroos halfway into the 2024-25 season | OneFootball

There is no doubt that despite winning the La Liga and UEFA Champions League only last season, Carlo Ancelotti had another immense challenge awaiting him at the start of this 2024-25 season, i.e., finding a way for his team to thrive without the presence of Toni Kroos in the Real Madrid midfield.

The German maestro left the Merengue club last summer, and his unique skillset, standing in the dressing room, knowledge of Los Blancos’ style of play, and overall experience made it impossible for Real Madrid to replace him in their squad.

As a result, Ancelotti had no other way than adjusting his other midfield options to minimise the impact of Kroos’ departure, and luckily, he had some of the world’s best midfielders at his disposal to get over this astronomic problem.

While injuries to some key players have hampered Ancelotti’s plans to readjust his midfield in a way that not only does not make the team miss Toni Kroos but also gets the best out of his current players, there are still some clear actions taken by the Italian for this purpose.

Although few people would have predicted it, there has also been a significant downgrade to Real Madrid’s defensive game this season. Although injuries to key players like Carvajal and Alaba have been a clear cause of this problem, problems in midfield have also contributed.

To get over this issue and to replace the German maestro’s ability to help the team evade initial pressure, Ancelotti has tried a double pivot midfield structure in some games this season. Aurelien Tchouameni and Eduardo Camavinga have been the most often used pivots for the Italian, but other players like Valverde and Ceballos have also played often in this role.

In addition to providing greater defensive solidity, this double-pivot system has also allowed the Real Madrid team to play the ball from the back with more ease and fluidity, especially providing the team with an extra option when the opposition is putting intense pressure on the backline.

Similarly, the role of two other key midfielders, Federico Valverde and Jude Bellingham, has also undergone a change in the absence of Kroos. Ancelotti has given this duo more dynamic roles this season.

Valverde’s high energy and stamina allows him to cover a lot of ground in the middle of the pitch, and one clear way in which he has replaced Kroos is through his long passes from the right side of the pitch to the left flank that usually find Vinicius Junior, Kylian Mbappe, or Fran Garcia by bypassing almost the entirety of the opposition midfield.

Similarly, Ancelotti also had to play Bellingham in a more constrained, deeper midfield role, especially earlier in the season when Eduardo Camavinga was injured. However, he has obtained more freedom recently, as Camavinga has returned while Ceballos has also emerged as another reliable option in the Real Madrid midfield.

But despite these adjustments, Kroos’ ability to advance the ball with his immaculate long passes is still impossible to replace. Another way in which Ancelotti has tried to get over this problem is by shifting his build-up play more towards the wings.

This is particularly obvious from the increased importance that Fran Garcia has gotten this season, while Lucas Vazquez is also a fullback who excels more on the offensive side of the game than the defensive side. The role of wingers like Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo Goes, Kylian Mbappe, and Brahim Diaz also remains essential in this aspect.

While there have been games where the team’s weaknesses in the midfield have been quite glaring, the team’s results in the last stretch of the year have been large encouraging. It remains to be seen how Ancelotti’s adjustments will stand against difficult opponents in the second half of the season, but there is no doubt that the Italian has some clear changes to replace a midfielder of Toni Kroos’ stature.