Germany great Lothar Matthaus has taken aim at Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos.

Matthaus was left unimpressed by Kroos' Euro 2020 campaign with Germany. The midfielder has since announced his international retirement.

Germany were bounced out in the round of 16 by England and Matthaus was unhappy with the influence Kroos had on his team's pedestrian style of play throughout the tournament.

The World Cup winner and former Bayern Munich captain insisted Kroos was capable of much more

Matthaus wrote for BILD via AS: "He sees himself better than I rate him. It is nothing personal: I congratulate him for everything he has achieved at Real Madrid and in the national team. Hats off to his career and his overall performance, Toni is a great and elegant player.

"But his performance in the European Championship was disappointing, he could not lead the team."

Matthaus bemoaned the lack of risk in Kroos' game and says this also influenced the way the entire Germany team played during the Euros.

He continued: "I have missed the passion, the fire and the vertical passes. All the contact with the ball does not help, it is nice to see it, but it is not effective. His low passes and his long centres are like his hairstyle: beautiful and clean. But that takes time and spirit from the game. There were too many horizontal passes... Playing with a three-man defence, that doesn't make sense!"

Kroos was an ever present for Germany during Euro 2020. At Real Madrid, the 31 year-old midfielder has a contract to 2023.

He announced his international retirement from the German national team last week.

- updated July 7