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<\/a>Boss\u00a0Kroos\u00a0at work. I show him the pages of his magazine<\/p><\/div>\n
SPORT BILD is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. This the reason why Matthias Br\u00fcgelmann, my real boss, has employed Toni Kroos – the only German player to win the Champions-League three times – as the new editor in chief.<\/p>\n
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I have seen Toni leading the way in midfield for Germany, Bayern and Real Madrid. But how is going to be as my boss?<\/p>\n
<\/a>We have brought the office of SPORT BILD to the trainings-center of Real Madrid for Toni Kroos<\/p><\/div>\n
I first watch how he prepares. Away from the pitch, he is as structured as he is in a Real shirt. He articulates his ideas for the magazine clearly right from the start. Football should not dominate he says, there has to be other sports like basketball and tennis. He makes no secret of his favourites on Twitter, supporting stars like Dirk Nowitzki and Roger Federer. He also has a couple of special interview requests: Freiburg coach Christian Streich, because they play beautiful football with a small budget and Mathias Sammer, who has worked with him both with the national team as well as at Bayern. The boss will carry out these two interviews personally.<\/p>\n
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It\u2019s Monday, the fifth of February. I\u2019m sitting in my office in Munich. At 4:07 pm I receive confirmation that there\u2019s a Face-Time-interview with Christian Streich in Freiburg tomorrow at 12:30. Oh dear I think. We have been planning this appointment for a long time but finding a date when both would be available was always a problem. Until now that is. Firstly, I check flights. Early tomorrow morning a Lufthansa flight goes to Basel which is near to Freiburg, but the flight is almost fully booked and it would cost over \u20ac1000 to get a ticket. For that price, I could fly to New York or Rio de Janeiro. So, it\u2019s going to be \u201cDeutsche Bahn\u201d and I\u2019ll let the train take the strain. Travelling on Thursday, the day of the interview, is too risky. What if something goes wrong when I change trains? I would arrive too late. So, it\u2019s good that I always have spare clothes and a wash bag in my office cabinet. I pack everything and catch the ICE (Inter City Express) at 5:28 pm. My colleague Nina, who reports on Freiburg for us, is catching an evening flight from Hamburg. Her air ticket isn\u2019t much more expensive than my train ticket.<\/p>\n
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Toni has already prepared a list of questions. He has made 15 points. He also lets me know that at 11 am, he will still be training with Real Madrid. The interview could start around 12:45 pm. Nina and I are preparing the interview equipment in the \u201cWein-Loge\u201d of the Dreisam Stadium. Christian Streich has finished his morning session and is preparing the team meeting for this afternoon\u2019s friendly match. Reliably as ever at 12:38 pm, Toni gives the signal: We can start in ten minutes! Christian Streich receives this information as the same time. The coach seems to be very focussed when he enters the room. He seems to be thinking about this afternoon\u2019s match. But when he sees Toni on the screen, the stress is relieved. When I hear Toni asking about \u201cchanges between footballing passages and possession\u201d or \u201cresolute football and counter-attacking football\u201d I know: This is an expert discussion at the very highest tactical level. Over the next half hour, us two reporters are extras. Toni is handling the interview confidently — without us.<\/p>\n
<\/a>FaceTime: Christian Streich, coach of SC Freiburg, is the interview-partner of Kroos. Left: My colleague NIna<\/p><\/div>\n
Both could probably have talked for ages but there\u2019s the friendly match coming soon. Looking at the time, Christian Streich stayed longer than he had planned. Everyone, who knows the meticulous coach, realises there must have been a special reason. In all the hurry, Streich forgot to ask Toni for a signed shirt for his son who is a big fan. Toni will send the shirt in the post!<\/p>\n
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At our second interview, the set-up is a little bit different. Editor in chief Kroos still has to give approval for the make-up of the magazine pages and some finished articles. I\u2019m flying in especially for that, bringing the SPORTBILD office to Kroos in Madrid. But a pleasant side effect of this trip is I can watch my boss playing for Real Madrid against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League. Boss or not, I will assess his performance neutrally. But Kroos was one of the best players on the pitch, winning the important penalty for the equaliser at 1:1, so we did not get in any conflict for our online reporting.<\/p>\n
<\/a>My wife hates me for that, but I loved it: valentines day at Bernabeu (Real vs PSG 3:1)<\/p><\/div>\n
The video chat with Matthias Sammer, who is with my colleague Tobias Altsch\u00e4ffl in Tobi\u2019s office, should start at 1 pm. Again, after Real\u2019s training. But I am still in my hotel bed, because I was working until 1am on my match report. I get a message at 8.30am that Real has no training today, so we can start the interview at midday. Just a few hours ago, Toni Kroos had played one of the most important matches of the season, but now he is focused on the next challenge: his interview with Sammer! Boss Kroos is as efficient as German clockwork in his planning.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Office in Munich: Interviewpartner Sammer (left) with my colleague Tobi. On the screen: Toni Kroos and me<\/p><\/div>\n
The meeting takes place at Real Madrid\u2019s training complex. Only a few journalists receive access to this area. I\u2019ve been here once previously for an interview with Toni. But this time I get a \u201creal\u201d surprise. The press officer allows us to visit the players area \u2013 the \u201csacred rooms\u201d of this facility. Obviously, Toni isn\u2019t only the boss on the pitch. On the way, I see that the players parking is arranged by their shirt numbers. Toni\u2019s car (nr 8) stands between Cristiano Ronaldo (nr 7) and Karim Benzema (nr 9). It\u2019s funny to imagine the tired stars saying \u201cGood morning!\u201c to each other every morning at training – just like normal work colleagues.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>The private cinema of Kroos, Ronaldo & Co at the trainings-center of Real Madrid<\/p><\/div>\n
We set up our office with a view on the training pitch. Next door, the Real stars have a private cinema and behind that there\u2019s many different things like a pool table, a basketball hoop, a table tennis table and a motor racing simulator. But the photographer, cameraman and myself, we are all here to work. Toni is punctual. \u201cFully rested?\u201c Sammer asks his former player. By his own experience, the former \u201cEuropean Player of the year\u201d knows only too well that after such an intensive match like Kroos had last night in the Bernabeu, it\u2019s very difficult to just think about sleeping. Immediately, they started to analyse yesterday\u2019s match. Both agree that the game changer were Zidane\u2019s substitutions. Kroos stresses that not every coach would have had the courage to take off his central defensive midfielder and bring on another offensive player when you are drawing 1-1. Kroos\u2019 analysis is that Zidane relied , an upon this same formation which brought them a four-goal lead against Real Sociedad and Sammer agrees. He concludes that experience won the match and not money. The pair were far too absorbed in their conversation, so they didn\u2019t realise we had visitors. Emilio Butragueno was first, Real\u2019s former vice-president and attacking legend. \u201cDoes Toni have an interview? I don\u2019t want to disturb,\u201c he says and leaves straight away. Moments later, Gareth Bale peeks behind the door. When the Welshman sees the magazine\u2019s pages with the SPORTBILD logo on the walls, he looks at me questioningly and also leaves. Who knows, maybe the editor in chief, Toni Kroos, would have started to interview him too??<\/p>\n