【Perez公器私用練英文023】‘Irreplaceable’ Toni Kroos walks away early at the top, a mic-drop moment「無可取代」巔峰引退，東尼克羅斯的風光落幕

【Perez公器私用練英文023】
「無可取代」巔峰引退，東尼克羅斯的風光落幕

‘Irreplaceable’ Toni Kroos walks away early at the top, a mic-drop moment

原文網址：https://www.theguardian.com/football/article/2024/may/22/irreplaceable-toni-kroos-walks-away-early-at-the-top-a-mic-drop-moment

時間：2024/05/22

記者：Sid Lowe

‘When I leave Madrid, I leave football,’ Tony Kroos, who has announced his retirement, insisted. Photograph: Isabel Infantes/Reuters「我離開馬德里時就會離開足壇。」東尼克羅斯，宣告了他的退役聲明，態度堅定。由路透社記者，伊莎貝爾伊凡提斯所攝。

Retiring midfielder goes for another Champions League title with Madrid before his swansong for Germany at Euro 2024
即將退役的中場正在為了他2024歐洲盃代表德國出賽絕唱之前的另一座歐冠冠軍奔走

Toni Kroos ended his career the way he played it: with perfect timing, completely in control, a man apart. Few footballers would have done it this way and fewer fans wanted it to happen when it did, but it’s his choice and that’s reason enough. Isco recently begged him to continue, Dani Carvajal didn’t want to bid farewell already, and David Alaba admitted he was “annoyed”; Lucas Vázquez was “gutted” and Vinícius Júnior called it a “terrible day for the ball”. But, trust him, this is what Toni Kroos does and has done over 17 years: make the right decision at the right moment, chosen with care and executed impeccably.

Toni Kroos以他比賽一貫的風格結束了他的職涯：在最完美的時間、盡在掌握之中的獨自道別。

少有足球員能做到，而當此發生的時候，又更少有球迷願意親眼見證。但，只要這是他的選擇，那就夠了。

Isco乞求他再繼續踢、卡瓦哈爾還不能接受、阿拉巴承認他為此煩躁、巴斯克斯感覺心中被掏空、維尼修斯表示是「足壇糟糕的一天」。

但，真的啦，這是Toni Kroos十七年始終如一的作風：在最正確的瞬間做出最好的抉擇，帶著無可挑剔的關懷和執行力。

“This season, my 10th at Real Madrid, will be my last,” he said on Tuesday morning in a special, Spanish edition of the podcast he does with his brother, Felix. “I am convinced it is the correct decision.”

「這個賽季，我在皇家馬德里的第十個賽季，將會是我的最後一個賽季，」週二早上，他在他跟他弟弟Felix做的Podcast節目，西班牙版的特輯這麼說道：「我說服了自己，這會是一個正確的決定。」

It is also one that is very him. In February, when Carlo Ancelotti was asked about the prospect of the German retiring at the end of this season, he replied: “If he does that, he’s got balls.” He has always had that, another kind of courage; if there was a hint of disbelief to go with Ancelotti’s admiration – a he wouldn’t … would he? – there was also recognition that he might. Kroos is a little different, and so here he is, walking away early, aged 34, and at the top: a mic-drop moment.

這也是他的作風。今年二月，當安切洛蒂被問到德國人賽末是否有會退休的意圖，安胖回答道：「如果他敢，他可真是帶種啊。」

而「有種」是他常保的性格之一，另一種表現勇氣的態度；如果當下在安切洛蒂的欽羨有一絲徵召或懷疑(一聲「他可能不會」、「他會嗎？」)，人們可能就會意識到他會選擇退役的徵兆。

克羅斯有一點點不同，所以他選擇走這一步，早早灑脫退役，在34歲還在巔峰的時刻，尋求了他的風光落幕。

“So sad my friend, but you completed the game,” Isco responded. Very soon, he really might have done. When Kroos reached 400 games with Real Madrid, he tweeted: “Could have gone worse.” A World Cup winner in 2014, a four-time league champion, his last game for Real Madrid will now be the European Cup final; win and he will equal Paco Gento’s all-time record of six victories. If he gets there, his last game for Germany would be the European Championship final, in Germany, his return from international retirement in March the perfect plan permitting the perfect retirement.

「太難過了的朋友，但你完整了每一場比賽，」Isco曾如此回覆。很快的，他大概就真的做到了。當克羅斯完成皇馬出賽400場時，他曾發推表示：「情況可能會更糟啦。」

(Perez譯註：這是個反串，表現自己現在踢得蠻好的)

一個2014世界杯冠軍、四度西甲聯賽冠軍，最後一場為皇馬出賽的比賽將是歐冠決賽，贏下它，他就會成為齊平亨特成為六座歐冠冠軍的歷史紀錄保持人。而如果一切順利，他最後一場德國國家隊比賽可能會是在德國的歐洲杯決賽，他三月時宣布從國家隊退役回歸，顯然是為了退役畫下完美句點的完美一環。

And it will be a retirement, too: no winding down in a second-rate but lucrative league, heart no longer in it. “When I leave Madrid, I leave football,” he insisted. From Madrid to the sky, as they say. Know your value, not your price. When Madrid won the Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia last winter, he was whistled by local fans angry that he had expressed his disappointment at Gabri Veiga going to Saudi Arabia. After the match, Toni Kroos the tweeter, all dry cool, a little hint of mischief, a man above all the bullshit, posted: “That was fun today. Amazing crowd.”

而這也是他的生涯退役聲明：不會凋零在二流但高薪，心不在焉踢球的聯賽。

「我離開馬德里時，就會離開球壇，」他堅定表示。

如眾人所言：他在馬德里衝上了雲端。皇馬不只知道他的價格，更是明白他的價值。在皇馬去年冬天在沙烏地阿拉伯贏得了西班牙超級盃時，他被當地球迷吆喝，為了他對Gabri Veiga投奔沙超感到遺憾而憤怒。那場比賽之後，克羅斯的推特，清爽不受波瀾、帶著一點點的惡作劇、猶如一個超越一切狗屁言論的男人，發了這則推文：「今天很好玩欸，很讚的喧囂聲。」

The announcement of his retirement fits that too, fits the way he plays: no flash, no fireworks. As the eulogies rolled in, he tweeted: “I’m trending at least?”

他的退役聲明也符合這個敘述，符合他踢球的方式：沒有鎂光燈、沒有喧囂花火。而當眾人的歌頌、讚揚潮水般湧來，他只是發了則推文：「至少我登上熱門趨勢啦？」

What a way to go, the way he said he always wanted: his way. Before he gets too tired of it or they get too tired of him. “I’m glad there are lots of people who want me to play for another year; that’s always better than the other way round, when they say ‘please stop’,” he said in February.

何其特別的離別風格，正如他常說他想要的：他獨有的做事風格，在他對足球的一切感到厭倦，或足球的一切對他感到厭倦之前。「很高興有一大群人希望我再效力一年，這比所有其他像是那種大家跟你說『請不要再踢了』的情況好多了。」

Toni Kroos (centre) celebrates following Germany’s World Cup final win over Argentina in 2014. Photograph: Hassan Ammar/AP東尼克羅斯(中)在2014年世界盃決賽戰勝阿根廷時歡聲慶祝。由美聯社記者哈山艾瑪爾所攝影


“People say I could easily play a few more years, and maybe that’s the case,” he said yesterday on Tuesday. “But I don’t want to reach a point where people say: ‘Pfff, why’s he still playing?’ So I chose the best moment and the best moment is now.”
「大家說我可以再輕鬆踢個幾年，也許那就是關鍵所在，」他昨天(週二)表示：「但我不想要出現「呃，他怎麼還在踢啊？」的那一天，所以我選擇在我最好的時候退場，而最好的那一刻，就是這一刻。」


The idea that anyone would want him to stop feels absurd now, but for all the smoothness, the apparent ease, he knows what this costs, how quickly it can all slip from you, how relentless the competition, how high the standards to which you must keep. He has seen it happen to others, Luka Modric included; he has felt it close in his case too. Besides, where can he go from here? “I have thought about this for months and there are pros and cons as always but I’m convinced it is what I want,” he said. Retire from football before football retires you, they say. Few get to make that choice; few are able to even recognise the moment. Always leave them wanting more.
大家叫他不要再踢了的想法聽來荒誕，但看似的一切順利，表面輕鬆，身在其中的他卻深知此代價，狀態的跌落有多快、比賽有多殘酷、你必須保持的標準有多高。他見證這些考驗在包括Luka Modric等人發生過；他也覺得這快要發生在他身上了。
除此以外，他還能去哪裡呢？「我花了幾個月時間思考其中利害，但我最後被退役的念頭說服了，那是我的選擇。」他言道。
有道是：「從足球場上退休，勝過足球把你淘汰。」少有人能圓滿做此選擇；少有人認知到離開的最佳時刻是何時。總是讓他們索求的更多。


When Madrid won that miraculous Champions League in 2022, the transition had already tentatively begun, Ancelotti talking about “60 minutes of quality and 30 minutes of energy,” admitting that he had asked for “understanding from the veterans and patience from the next generation”. A year ago, after Madrid were defeated by Manchester City, that was accelerated. Or at least that was the plan. As this season began he was on the bench; now Ancelotti says that he is “irreplaceable”. There is no one like him, not even in this squad. Not in any squad.
在皇馬贏得2022歐冠奇蹟一冠時，世代交替也已經緩步進行著了。安切洛蒂口中的「60分鐘用品質取勝、30分鐘靠活力爆破」，承認了他被要求要「從老將的需求跟對新生代的耐心去切入了解」。一年前，在皇馬被曼城打敗後，這個進程更被加快，或至少加快進程是被計畫執行的。本球季初，東尼還在板凳上，如今安切洛蒂說他是「無可取代的」。沒有人能替代東尼，無論是在皇馬或任何其他球隊。


“He’s unique,” Ancelotti said. “He is always in the right place, he doesn’t misplace passes. The best thing is the way he positions himself, his body. He’s a midfielder that wants the ball, that is not scared of the pressure.” In Munich recently, in Madrid’s worst moment, he proved it: that night was about the way that he took control, saw them through the storm.
「他與眾不同，」安切洛蒂說：「他永遠會出現在對的地方、也從來不會誤傳球。最厲害的是他的身體對自身站位的解讀。他是個會去拿球卻從來不怕被壓迫的中場。」在沒多久前的慕尼黑，他就在皇馬的黑暗時光證明這件事：當晚一切盡在他的掌握，從風暴中看穿所有人的意圖。


“It’s one of my best seasons and a good moment to leave,” Kroos insisted. It is his last because it is good; perhaps it is also good, in part, because he knew that it might be the last. This is a decision he has thought about for a long time.
「這是我最好的一個賽季，所以他是離開的好時間點，」克羅斯堅稱。因為它極佳，所以以它收尾；或許這季的極佳表現，某部分也是因為他知道，這將會是最後一季了。這是個他尋思許久的決定。


“If in a few years’ time you talk about Toni Kroos, I always wanted you to remember how I was. I always wanted to be at the level I am at now.”
「當你在未來幾年談到東尼克羅斯，我永遠希望你記得的是現在的我，我希望常在你心中的是我現在的競技水準。」


They will remember the player to whom Luis Díaz handed the ultimate compliment: he named his dog after him. “He practically hasn’t lost possession since he was in the under-12s,” Santi Cazorla said recently. “Everyone says ‘he plays walking’ but he doesn’t need to run. If you’re not quick, not strong in duels, you have to create time and space in other ways. He should never retire.”
眾人將永遠銘記這位Luis Diaz給予至高評價的球員：他用了Toni Kroos的名字為他的狗命名。
「他在U12球隊開始，就幾乎不會丟失球了」桑蒂卡佐拉(西班牙籍阿森納/黃潛中場球員)最近這麼評價東尼：「大家都說「他都慢吞吞地踢球」，但他又不需要高速跑動。如果你在對抗時不夠快、不夠壯，你自然會找到其他方法創造你在場上的時間跟空間，他永遠沒有「該退休」的時候。」


They will remember a man whose passing is so good even his signature goal is a pass, a player who seems to have his own personal patch of pitch, a clock moving at a different speed, exercising control over the game, making sense of it all.
眾人將永遠銘記，那個傳球好到，甚至他最具標誌性的進球原本都是個傳球的男人，那個球場上步調極具個人色彩的球員、一個彷彿自帶不同時空間、他的運作控制了整場比賽，這些不可思議，在他的能力下都顯得合理至極。 

Toni Kroos propels another pass forward during his influential display against Bayern Munich in the Champions League semi-final this year. Photograph: Isabel Infantes/PA東尼克羅斯透過他的個人能力，在今年的歐冠四強對拜仁慕尼黑的比賽展現了又一次推進。由路透社記者，伊莎貝爾伊凡提斯所攝。

A footballer who, as Vinícius put it, “does the easy thing” but who knows it’s not easy and certainly won’t be forever; a player who Juan Román Riquelme once described as the closest thing football has to Roger Federer: “He can go out, play, and go home again not even needing to bath: he doesn’t sweat, he doesn’t get dirty.” Why, when you can make time yours? When Ancelotti went into the dressing room to tell the players that the 2022 Champions League final kick-off had been delayed, Kroos replied: “No problem, we’ll win it later.”

東尼克羅斯，一位維尼修斯用「化萬物為簡」形容的足球員，但誰人又知曉這後面的不容易，且顯然這樣的犀利是不能永恆的。

東尼克羅斯，一位被以最接近「足球界的羅傑費德勒」形容的球員，胡安.羅曼.里克爾梅(曾效力巴薩、黃潛、博卡青年的阿根廷足球員)形容道：「他能上場出征、再下場回家，中間甚至不用梳洗：他簡直是滴汗不冒、塵土不沾似的。」

你什麼時候把時間的流逝猶如有你自己的時區，又是怎麼做到的啊？2022年，當安切洛蒂在更衣室告訴球員決賽會延遲開踢，「好啊，那我們就晚點贏囉。」克羅斯僅作此回覆。

That line wasn’t brash, it wasn’t bravado – it never is – it was just him, understated, undemonstrative. It’s there in his personality and in his play. Jorge Valdano called his football “silent, so much so that there are people who don’t see it”, writing: “What a joy it is to see intelligence owning the game, with no need for haste or muscle. At the end of every game he is always the player with the most touches and you wonder: how can it be that they don’t see him, don’t appreciate his influence?”

這句話並非傲慢或虛張聲勢—從來不是—那就是他說話的方式，深藏在他性格與踢法的輕描淡寫、不著感情。Jorge Valdano(阿根廷籍皇家馬德里前球員、前教練、前體育總監)說他的球風「無聲到人們視而不見」，並寫出讚譽：「何其有幸看到這樣的天賦之子掌管了這場比賽，而不需要靠著手忙腳亂或肌肉比拼。比賽結束之時，他永遠會是那個有最多觸球的球員，然後你會懷疑：這個球員怎麼會被其他人視而不見、沒看到他在場上的影響力？」

Perhaps the nature of Kroos, the quiet cool, the unwillingness to make it about him, meant some took a while to appreciate him. But hey, in your own time – or, better still, in his – and they do now. For many, that is precisely another reason to appreciate him. “I always had the objective of ending this way,” he said.

也許這是克羅斯與生俱來的，沈默的冷靜、不願意居功的個性，讓人得花段時間才懂得要感激他。但，在你的時區—喔 ，或是「他的時區」—眾人現在這麼做了。對許多人來說，這正是許多人感激他的另一個緣故。「我一直都希望以這樣的方式告終。」克羅斯曾說。

No one wants him to go, including the fans who watch him and the teammates whose lives he made better, but he earned the right to choose, something he does judiciously: class, even when it comes to saying goodbye.

無人希望他的離去，包括觀賽已久的粉絲與彼此砥礪的隊友們，但他為自己贏得了選擇的權利，選擇急流勇退，明哲退役，就連告辭的身段都這麼有水準。

“It is the correct decision,” he said, and if he says so then it is. You can lament that he has gone too soon but know that he knows, that he sees, that his decisions are invariably revealed as obvious after the event. This is just what Toni Kroos does. When he provided that pass for Vinícius in Munich, setting up the perfect goodbye 17 years after he began, a teenager giving two assists on his debut, the Brazilian called it a “gift”. Kroos called it “nothing special”; it was about the run, he said. All he had to do was the right thing at the right time, choosing the perfect moment to let go.

「這會是個正確的決定，」克羅斯這麼說道，而克羅斯這麼說，那就是了。你可以哀嘆他退役得太早，但要知道他所想、他所見、他所決定，總在事後被證明是無誤的判斷。這可是東尼克羅斯的風格。當他在慕尼黑為維尼修斯「仙人指路」時，就是他為十七年前，那個在同一個場地，初登場就送出兩助攻的少年，風光道別的完美序曲了。維尼修斯說那是個「餽贈」，而克羅斯卻說，只覺得那平凡無奇，就是認真跑動而已。他的一切所做所為，不過就是在對的地方做對的事情，在最完美的時間點讓一切完美落地。