Before Spain-Germany match in quarter-finals of Euro 2024 .. A quarrel between Joselu and Kroos

Before the anticipated match between the Spanish and German national teams in the quarter-finals of the European Championship, on Friday, the former's striker Joselu Mato and the latter's midfielder Toni Kroos exchanged fiery statements about the match.

Kroos had said that he would retire from football permanently after the 2024 European Championship, and therefore if the German machines were eliminated against Spain, the career of the "former" Real Madrid midfielder would end on the pitch.

Joselu said about his former teammate in the royal team, in statements reported by the "Football Spain" website: "We hope that it will be his last match. It is not a special match because he is here. It is a quarter-final against a great team. We hope that Toni retires on Friday."

Decisive match on Friday

The striker, who recently moved to Al-Gharafa in Qatar, added: "(Kroos) was a friend of mine. I spoke to him a lot and he advised me a lot. He is essential for Germany and he was also for Real Madrid. We must be careful against him on Friday."

"We know what Toni has," Joselu continued. "I think he's a key player, but we can't just focus on him. The ball goes through him every time Germany have the ball, and Toni is a player who means everything to them. We'll have to keep a special eye on him so that Germany don't enjoy playing."

"It's very important to win to qualify. As for Toni, we have to believe in ourselves. We don't care about the other team's players. I think Friday will be his last game."

Everyone wants to win

Kroos, on the other hand, said: "It's normal, they want to win the tournament. I'll try everything to make sure it doesn't happen that way. They're here to win and so are we. We'll see what happens on Friday. The important thing is that they didn't try to keep me away from Madrid. They're my friends."

On Joselu's comments, Kroos told Spanish sports daily Marca: "He said it because he wants to win. I understand that he wants Spain to reach the semi-finals, but I think Germany have a lot of qualities to prevent Spain from qualifying. It will be an exciting game, not boring. What he's saying is fun."

Kroos also spoke about how he is dealing with the possibility that the Euro 2024 quarter-finals could be his last game in his career.

He explained: "Of course it's in my head but it doesn't bother me, it's an incentive to think that it's not the last game yet. I experienced that in the round of 16 against Denmark but it doesn't bother me. It's an incentive to extend my career as much as possible. That was my decision and I know the situation. I want to reach the final. I'll be happy without football but I still hope to extend my career a little longer."