Toni Kroos said Spain had “shattered” Germany's dream of a home triumph at Euro 2024 after Mikel Merino's 119th-minute goal eliminated the hosts and ended the former Real Madrid midfielder's career.
Kroos, 34, brought down the curtain on his club career by helping Real Madrid win their 15th Champions League title last season and was hoping to clinch a European double by leading Germany to Euro 2024 glory.
But Spain's 2-1 win in Stuttgart saw Julian Nagelsmann's side eliminated in the quarter-finals, leaving Kroos to reflect on what might have been.
“To be honest, the main feeling right now is that the tournament is over, because we all had a big goal that we wanted to achieve together,” Kroos told reporters. “And that dream that we all had has now simply been shattered.”
“We can all be proud because we have improved. I am happy to have helped Germany, as a footballing nation, to have hope again.”
“I am convinced that the team will be successful in the future, but today we are sad because we wanted to stay a little longer in this competition.”
English referee Anthony Taylor showed 16 yellow cards during the 120 minutes, including a red card to Spanish defender Dani Carvajal, which leaves the Madrid full-back out of the semi-final.
Kroos was also booked and was lucky to avoid another yellow card for a foul on Pedri that forced the Spanish midfielder to be substituted early in the match.
However, Kroos defended Germany's physical performance.
“I wouldn't say it was the most brutal game, but it was one in which we gave it our all,” he said. “We didn't want to lose, we were very close.”
“Right now elimination covers everything. We will realise that we had a good tournament, but being so close to making it to the next round is tough.”
Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann said his team did not deserve to be eliminated from the competition after coming close to winning the match in extra time.
“It's hard to hold back the tears,” she said. “They didn't deserve to lose today.”
“We reacted well after the break. Spain only had two chances in the second half, we were closer to winning than Spain.
“We hit the post, we had a chance with a header. It hurts, it will take me time to recover and I don't think I'll play a tournament at home again in my career.”
“We had a good team that stayed together. After the 1-0, it was clear that we were not satisfied, that we wanted to give more. If we had acted like in the past, without desire, it would have been deserved, but the team invested a lot.”
Information from Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
