Toni Kroos blasts Mesut Ozil for ‘nonsense’ and ‘out of order’ Germany retirement
Real Madrid midfielder hits out at his former team-mate for his retirement from the national side and claims there is no racism in the Germany FA
TONI KROOS has claimed Mesut Ozil's retirement from the Germany national side was "nonsense" and "out of order".
Ozil announced he would not play for his national side again while problems with "racism" continue to exist in the team and the German FA.
But Kroos believes Ozil's reasoning is unjustified and that the Arsenal star "knows racism does not exist".
, the Real Madrid midfielder said: "Basically Mesut is a deserved national player and deserves a better finish as a footballer.
"I have played with Mesut for many years and know that he is a nice guy. The way of his resignation was not okay."
Germany crashed out in the group stages of the World Cup and humiliated fans turned on Ozil, blaming him for their exit.
The former Real Madrid playmaker, 29, made his announcement on Twitter and received a mixed reaction, with Uli Hoeness not holding back in his damning assessment of Ozil.
But Kroos has vocalised his feelings and is unwilling to accept his former team-mate's reasoning.
Kroos continued: "The proportion that is well and properly addressed in his statement is unfortunately overshadowed by the much higher proportion of nonsense. I think that he himself knows that racism does not exist within the national team and the DFB.
"On the contrary, we are always committed to diversity and integration. Mesut was a good example of that, as many of our fellow players did."
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When discussing the incident involving Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the former Bayern Munich midfielder passed the blame on to Ozil and fellow midfielder Ilkay Gundogan.
He added: "I think Mesut and Ilkay have been busy doing that. Whether severely impaired, they have to answer for themselves.
"From my point of view, it would be embarrassing to hide as a team behind this - mainly public - debate and to mention this as a reason for the cut."
Kroos, meanwhile, has committed himself to playing for Germany at the 2020 European Championships, seeing the tournament as an opportunity for the national side to redeem itself following the embarrassment of Russia.