"If you look at their goals or their chances and rewind 10 seconds, you don't see them coming" -- Thomas Tuchel on Real Madrid before the first leg of their UEFA Champions League semifinal.
During that first leg, Madrid put out a live-action demo of this quote. After dominating for almost every minute until then, Bayern found themselves 0-1 down in the 24th minute. The ball hit the back of Bayern's net at exactly 23:04. Rewind ten seconds, and you'll see exactly what Tuchel means:
22:54 - Toni Kroos has the ball exactly on the halfway line, and he passes it square to Lucas Vazquez. At this point, there really is nothing on. Bayern's defence has shifted to their left and are covering passing, and running, angles well. Vinicius, at this point, is near the opposition box, Kim Min-Jae covering him well.
22:58 - Vazquez holds onto it for a while, before playing it square back, Federico Valverde runs back to take it, but Kroos waves him off, and steps into the Bayern half. There's absolutely no one in front of him -- suddenly the midfield is all his, but Bayern know he doesn't have the pace to exploit all that space with a direct run, so they back off, close the passing angles. Or they think they do. Here, if you pause the video, you can see Vinicius has started to run backwards into that midfield space, asking Kroos for the ball, and Kim, head down, is scrambling to stay close. If Vinicius gets the ball to feet, he knows he needs to be tight to him.
22:59 - Kroos continues his leisurely stroll through the middle, before suddenly putting his right hand out, as if signaling someone, "go there". That someone is Vinicius, and he abruptly applies the brakes on that backward run before spinning back towards goal. Kim, who's fully committed to tracking him cannot match that deceleration and 180-degree direction change. Suddenly, there's space in behind the Bayern backline.
23:00 - Kroos is done with the directing, now it's time for action. A gentle caress of his right foot and the ball's going at exactly the right direction, exactly the right speed for Vinicius to run onto and take first time. With Vinicius' turn taking Kim out of the equation, it's all about how good the pass is: the space is there, will the ball get there?
23:03 - Well, it's so perfectly weighted (and directed) that no man in Bayern white and red can get anywhere near it, and Manuel Neuer has no chance of intercepting it. Vinicius doesn't even have to slow down as he runs onto it and places it first time past Neuer.
23:04 - The ball is in the back of the net, Vinicius wheels away in celebration, Thomas Muller is screaming obscenities in the middle of the pitch, Kroos has a fist pump and jogs back.
Bayern would hit back through Leroy Sane, take the lead through Harry Kane and then concede an equaliser via a Vinicius Jr. penalty. They go into the Bernabeu with the tie still finely poised. The moment of the first leg, though, was that Toni Kroos pass.
This Kroos pass to Vinícius's goal from this angle is just incredible. pic.twitter.com/3RxI5yS3IV
- ������ (@losblancoszone) April 30, 2024
When you look at the replay from a top-down angle, you can see exactly how Kroos opened the defence up, how he clearly saw the possibility of the pass before the possibility even existed. It's a genius that Kroos has showcased time and again for more than a decade now, but it's one that never ceases to amaze.
After the match, Kroos would say: "I saw that their centre backs always follow Vini Jr and I know Vini always makes runs into the space... that's why the credit is to Vini. He opened the space. The pass was ok!".
For that unmatched vision, for the ability to turn nothing into a goal inside ten seconds, Toni Kroos takes ESPN India's moment of the UCL mid-week.