{"id":2297,"date":"2026-10-28T19:16:31","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T11:16:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/?p=2297"},"modified":"2026-10-28T19:16:33","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T11:16:33","slug":"kroos-vinicius-must-defend-like-diomande-and-bellingham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/28\/kroos-vinicius-must-defend-like-diomande-and-bellingham\/","title":{"rendered":"Kroos: &#8216;Vinicius must defend like Diomande and Bellingham&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"562\" src=\"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/image-27.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2298\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/image-27.png 1000w, https:\/\/mktynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/image-27-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/mktynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/image-27-768x432.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Toni Kroos praised Jose Mourinho&#8217;s tactical approach to Real Madrid&#8217;s El Clasico victory over Barcelona, while insisting Vinicius Junior must match the defensive commitment shown by Yan Diomande and Jude Bellingham.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Speaking on his podcast, Toni Kroos acknowledged the changing dynamic in recent clashes against Barcelona: &#8220;Over the last two years, momentum had swung in Barca&#8217;s favour. That was what everyone anticipated heading into this clash, but the script has completely flipped. Jose Mourinho deserves immense credit. Real Madrid were outstanding and executed a superb tactical plan.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;They were brave at Camp Nou, which marked a stark contrast to recent &#8216;Clasicos&#8217;. There were stretches where they dug in and defended resolutely, particularly after Barca drew level. At that point, almost anyone would have settled for a draw.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The German midfield maestro was also struck by several tactical nuances: &#8220;Huijsen&#8217;s man-marking on Fermin caught me by surprise. Players like Pedri and Raphinha looked completely rattled. Madrid won virtually every individual duel because they operated at far greater intensity. They defended as a cohesive unit, subjecting Barca to a relentless press that other sides simply do not impose on them.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Reflecting on the role of Vinicius Jr, he was unequivocal: &#8220;He must defend just like Yan Diomande and Jude Bellingham did. Mbappe or Vinicius are a dream for midfielders. They are three strides quicker than the defenders.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Toni Kroos praised Jose Mourinho&#8217;s tactical approach to Real Madrid&#8217;s El Clasico victory over Barcelona, while insisting Vinicius<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2298,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2297"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2299,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2297\/revisions\/2299"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}