The end of Real Madrid’s most successful midfield: the Casemiro-Kroos-Modric trio of 12 titles

Historically, in football teams, the value that the lead has in relation to the other positions on the pitch is greater, for the simple reason that goals, often regardless of form, are what give victories.

The formula is simple: to win, you have to score. So, the ones who write are the ones who get the flash and covers in the newspapers. It is therefore not surprising that in the individual awards that determine a better football player, priority is always given to the one who celebrated the most goals. This year, for example, for the Golden Ball there are (to date) 30 candidates, but in the eyes of the world there is already a clear favorite: Karim Benzema. The French striker was the figure of the whites last year for his performance (but also for his 44 goals in 46 games). It is highly unlikely that there will be another winner on October 17th next.

So far this calendar year, His team has already won La Liga, the Champions League, the Spanish Super Cup and the European Super Cup. In the latter he went to the leader and lifted the trophy. However, the Frenchman’s job was done thanks to a collective performance of equal merit, from goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois to fellow striker Vinicius Junior, cutting through a strong defense and a midfield that, with some years at the top, has been one of the keys to the Whites’ success in recent years.

Unsurprisingly, Belgium goalkeeper Antonio Rüdiger, Vinicius, Modric and Casemiro are on the preliminary list of 30.

Now, the Casemiro-Kroos-Modric trio It was one of the best luxuries in the White House. While the BBC (Benzema, Bale and Cristiano) were talking about the best trident to compete with Barcelona’s MSN (Messi, Suarez and Neymar), CKM, quietly, is the one that has prevailed over time. So much so that, even when the previous ones fell apart, he continued to give Real the greatest joy in recent months.

The hat tricknow it is coming to an end. Casemiro has his bags ready to travel to Manchester and complete his move to United (quite in need of someone of his size), and thus bring order to the middle traffic of Old Trafford. The figures are set at £60m plus £10m in variables for a contract until 2027.

The Triple Fat cheaper florentine

The lottery that has paid off the most for the president of Real Madrid. When in the block of checks he released hundreds of millions in the construction of the aforementioned BBC (231 million euros), for CKM the leader did not make a significant investment.

The first to arrive was Luka Modric. The Croatian came from Tottenham, where he had played 160 games in which he celebrated 17 goals and provided 26 assists. Along with Bale, Aaron Lennon and Rafael van der Vaart, they had made a good, competitive team. Perez had his eye on him and took him to Madrid for €35 million in the summer of 2012. His first year? It was considered a failure.

Then the Portuguese Jose Mourinho was on the bench and played 4-2-3-1, where he did not give constant regularity to the Balkans, who in December of that year had only celebrated one goal and one assist. It was at that time that the newspaper Marca made a classification of the worst transfers of the year. The midfielder was voted number 1 with 32%.

“It’s very difficult to adapt to life at a big club like Madrid. I had some good performances, if not all the games, but I think I can show that I have something to offer.”he said then. At the end of that year they only lifted the Spanish Super Cup. They were second behind Barcelona in the league and were beaten by Borussia Dortmund in the semi-finals. Mourinho left at the end of the campaign and that’s when the winning midfield began to be built.

Casemiro arrived the same 2013 from Sao Paulo, he did it in exchange for just 1 million euros, to play in Castilla. Then Zinedine Zidane saw him with good eyes, but the responsible manager was Carlo Ancelotti, who had no faith in him. “He makes a lot of bad passes,” commented the Italian according to Spain’s ABC portal.

That’s why a year later he left Porto, where he won titles and returned to Madrid for 15 million more. On that trip to Portugal, the Whites brought Toni Kroos of Bayern Munich for 25 million euros, with the recent badge of World Champion and only 24 years old. The German’s elegance and almost flawless passing performance have made him a consummate midfielder.

Among the three, Florentino Pérez only spent €65 million. An absolute bargain.

The Legacy of the Trinomial

In this era of football, the Brazil-Germany-Croatia connection is perhaps only comparable to the Xavi-Iniesta-Busquets midfield, the engine of a Barcelona that was considered the best team in history. Moreover, they were the main contributors to Spain’s 2010 title.

When everything was ready, the festivities began. The result was immediate and the first title arrived: the Champions League in Milan. The one that beat Atletico Madrid on penalties. It was the first final of the 12 they have played together over the years and they have each won. The winning trio, the lucky one, the one with the cups… the one that will be missed by all the people of Madrid.

The finals were played by Casemiro-Kroos-Modric on the field