Toni Kroos ruled out a discussion with ZDF reporter Nils Kaben after breaking off the interview after triumphing with Real Madrid in the Champions League.

He thought about discussing what was happening with him on his podcast. “That thought vanished pretty quickly when I saw that he was also the first to give an interview and confirm: As a player, you shouldn’t behave like that,” said the 2014 world champion in the joint podcast “Simple mal Luppen” with his brother Felix. “So that’s settled. If you want to get that out of the way, you discuss it.”

You could have done that immediately: “I would have been open to that. But you don’t choose the path of giving an interview and wanting to defend yourself.”

Kroos abruptly ended the interview on Saturday night after the 1-0 win over Liverpool, his fifth triumph in the premier class. “You had 90 minutes to think about sensible questions and then you ask me two shitty questions,” Kroos said shortly after the game. He was asked whether it was surprising that Real had come under so much pressure in the final.

Kaben admitted in a “Spiegel” interview on Monday that he could have phrased a question “very clearly” better. After consultation with colleagues, one “very clearly came to the conclusion that one should not behave like this as a player”.

“In any case, you can of course rate it with a little less emotion, definitely. But I have to say that my opinion hasn’t changed, even without emotion,” said Kroos. “The colleague from ZDF” had the chance to conduct an interview, “which perhaps doesn’t happen that often from me or hasn’t happened. Where you can say, you can now let it go like that.”