Former Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos has responded to comments from former Chelsea and Nigeria star John Obi Mikel, which questioned the level of the German icon. Kroos has never been one to shy away from speaking his mind, nor to have some fun at the expense of his rivals.

The story begins with Chelsea midfielder calling Kroos ‘average’. The ex-Bayern Munich man is regarded as one of the best of his generation, and since he has left, his quality has only become more conspicuous by absence at the Santiago Bernabeu. Mikel, appeared to opine differently, with the following words attributed to him.

“Toni Kroos was an average midfielder. I was a better player than him. The big difference was that I didn’t play for Real Madrid.”

Toni Kroos responds to Mikel comments

Upon seeing these comments online, Kroos reposted them on his Instagram story with the caption ‘And why didn’t you play for Real Madrid?’ The former Germany international clearly was not impressed with Mikel’s statements.

Mikel calls out fake quotes

However, it turns out that Kroos was responding to fake quotes. As explained by Marca, Mikel quickly clarified the story on his podcast ‘The Obi one’.

“That’s an absolute lie. To say that Modric, Carvajal, Kroos, or Nacho aren’t good enough is unbelievable. I would never say something like that, and I never will,” he laughed.

Mikel goes on to say that the players mentioned above are world class and Real Madrid legends, before noting that “they’ve won the Champions League six times. Saying they weren’t good is crazy.”

Former teammate and current Real Madrid midfielder Dani Ceballos also jumped on the back of it, commenting on social media ‘I’m sorry, but Toni Kroos is unique.’ Mikel’s clarifications appear not to have reached Ceballos or Kroos yet.