Toni Kroos dramatically changes his mind about Celtic as the Real Madrid icon fires’second raters’ dig at the Scottish champions

He criticised Dortmund, despite their recent Champions League victory, and pushed the Hoops down the list.

Straight-shooting Toni Kroos has labelled Celtic as’second-class opponents’, two years after waxing poetic about their European standing.

He blasted Borussia Dortmund, despite their recent Champions League triumph. Celtic were thrashed 7-1 by the Bundesliga cracks in their second round of matches in the competition, having defeating Slovan Bratislava 5-1 at Parkhead in the first. Kroos retired following this summer’s European Championships, where he helped his side triumph 5-1 against Scotland in the tournament’s first game.

And the 34-year-old Real Madrid legend, who is the most decorated German player of all time with 34 trophies in a 17-year career, took a shot at Celtic when lamenting Dortmund’s terrible domestic start to the season on his podcast, which he co-hosts with his brother Felix. He remarked, “I believe last week was a textbook example of a Borussia Dortmund week. They won 7-1 in the Champions League, although against a second-tier opponent.

“And then they went to play a Bundesliga game at the weekend and put in a typically poor performance and lost. In the end, Dortmund will be judged by how they do in the Bundesliga, not in Europe. They won’t make it to the Champions League Final every year. They have to finally show some consistency in the league. I think we can say that Dortmund should be doing better in the league for many years now.”