Retired Real Madrid star picks Barcelona players as better than their team-mates

A few months after his departure, Toni Kroos made a surprising statement recently regarding Barcelona's backline, and with over 13 years of professional football under his belt, the German legend has chosen the two best players in Barcelona's defence in his opinion.

Better than Ronald Araujo: Who are they?

German star Toni Kroos has revealed the names he prefers at the heart of his compatriot Hans Flick's defence, and as expected, Ronald Araujo is not one of them, with the German star having heavily criticised the young defender for his performance in the semi-final second leg against Inter Milan in a match that ended 4-3 in favour of Inter Milan and secured the Italian side's place in the final.

Iñigo Martínez and Cubarsí are much better than Araujo, but they don’t have the speed, and then it’s an even bigger risk when they beat you. That was the risk they took, and it’s given them a lot of success and impressive victories, but as I thought, the day would come when that risk would be punished, and it happened with Inter.

Toni Kroos speaking at his personal podcast Einfach mal Luppen.

Previous encounters between Ronald Araujo and Real Madrid

In the last three years, especially during the Xavi Hernandez era, Ronaldo Araújo has been a key part of the Barcelona team and has been one of the key pieces in particular tasked with keeping an eye on Brazilian Vinicius Junior and has been relatively successful in limiting the talented Brazilian's danger each and every time.

However, it seems this time around, the Uruguayan has lost his place in the first team for some reason and could leave in the summer.

Hazem Mlhem |

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Hazem Mlhem est un rédacteur sportif expérimenté, animé par une passion pour le football africain.