REAL MADRID

After Real Madrid's win over Espanyol at the weekend, Toni Kroos spoke to Die Welt where he says winning LaLiga is complicated but they can still win the Copa and the Champions League and he also spoke about Antonio Pintus' influence waning under Julen Lopetegui.

"We have given away to many points in the league during the first half of the season, but that's the past," he says when asked if they still believe they can win this year. "I always knew and the last few years have given me the confidence that we have a better team and can never stop moving forward."

"We still have the chance to win titles," he continued while speaking about the good moment Real Madrid are currently in but says it is the same when they were going through tough times earlier in the year.

Kroos says the key to seeing a better Real Madrid is not making mistakes. "The secret is to not make mistakes," he says. "Last season, we were beaten relatively early in the league and the title was not realistic."

The importance of Antonio Pintus

"In some way, he has been there all this time," he says of the physical trainer, Antonio Pintus, who Zinedine Zidane brought with him to the club. "With Zidane, his influence was slightly stronger than with Julen Lopetegui, who brought his own physical trainer. However, this is based more now on the form of the players. We have had many injuries in the last few weeks and you can't forget that but I didn't attribute it to the physical trainer and not the other way around either."

"It is important for someone to take us to a high level," he says regarding the importance of a physical trainer. "But during the season, that's not easy. You can't do classic preperation because there are too many games. You can only control things a little bit individually.... but some things are simply bad luck. There are teammates in the team like Jesús Vallejo, who is one of the most professional I see, who does everything and he is still injured."