{"id":300798,"date":"2023-12-16T01:25:03","date_gmt":"2023-12-16T01:25:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/?p=300798"},"modified":"2023-12-16T01:25:03","modified_gmt":"2023-12-16T01:25:03","slug":"darts-champion-michael-smith-recalls-friendship-with-real-madrid-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/soccer\/darts-champion-michael-smith-recalls-friendship-with-real-madrid-star\/","title":{"rendered":"Darts champion Michael Smith recalls friendship with Real Madrid star"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1> World Darts champion Michael Smith recalls unusual friendship with Real Madrid star who messaged him while he was on the TOILET!<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><span>Smith, known as Bully Boy, recalls strange friendship with footballing star\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span>The Real Madrid player had reached out to Smith to appear on his podcast<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span>Smith looks to defend world title at World Darts Championships starting Friday<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>World Darts champion Michael Smith, who triumphed over Michael van Gerwen in the 2023 final, had a surprise message from a Real Madrid footballer in which he claimed was one of the highlights of his year.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Following his PDC World Darts win at Ally Pally, Smith received a surprising text from Kroos, a Real Madrid and Germany star, and the two have maintained contact since.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Smith, known as Bully Boy, recalls the moment of receiving Kroos&#8217;s message while on the toilet in Bahrain, describing it as the weirdest and most memorable incident of the past 12 months, according to The Mirror.<\/p>\n<p>Smith recalled: &#8216;I was on the toilet, minding my own business, when I got a text message off Toni Kroos, asking if he could ring me and go on his podcast and everything.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/16\/00\/79024809-12870505-image-m-59_1702685514222.jpg\" height=\"381\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Smith recalls his unlikely friendship with Real Madrid star Toni Kroos<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/16\/00\/79024487-12870505-image-m-60_1702685543485.jpg\" height=\"363\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Jude Bellingham and Toni Kroos of Real Madrid celebrate together\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/16\/00\/79025131-12870505-image-a-61_1702685668621.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Michael Smith celebrates with the Sid Waddell trophy after winning the final of the World Darts Championship against Michael van Gerwen\u00a0at Alexandra Palace, London in January 2023<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/16\/00\/79024489-12870505-image-a-57_1702685509574.jpg\" height=\"465\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Toni Kroos is highly regarded as one of the greatest midfielders in the world\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/16\/00\/79025129-12870505-image-a-62_1702685703342.jpg\" height=\"450\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Michael Van Gerwen won the World Darts Championships title in 2019<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I nearly started crying in the toilet, screaming to the missus that I have just got a text message off him &#8211; and she replied, &#8216;Who the f*** is Toni Kroos?&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;He still texts me now, asking me about darts and stuff. Just getting to speak to someone of his stature was incredible.&#8217;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The 33-year-old is set to commence his title defence on Friday, sharing his excitement for the challenge ahead.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Reflecting on his extraordinary year, Smith is keen to win multiple championships to avoid a career with only one title.<\/p>\n<p>Despite living lavishly post-victory, including a trip to Las Vegas where he indulged in Don Perignon champagne and Havana cigars, Smith is focused on his upcoming match against Stowe Buntz or Dutch qualifier Kevin Doets, some potentially tough clashes.<\/p>\n<p>Smith&#8217;s ultimate goal is to become a multiple-time world champion and he plans to continue the celebratory tradition in the following years.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/i\/pix\/2017\/08\/02\/636x90_facebook_ad_sport.png\" width=\"636\" height=\"90\"><br \/>\nSource: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-12870577\/World-Darts-champion-Michael-Smith-unusual-friendship-Real-Madrid-star-messaged-TOILET.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>World Darts champion Michael Smith recalls unusual friendship with Real Madrid star who messaged him while he was on the [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":300797,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Darts champion Michael Smith recalls friendship with Real Madrid star - USA SportsRadar<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/soccer\/darts-champion-michael-smith-recalls-friendship-with-real-madrid-star\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Darts champion Michael Smith recalls friendship with Real Madrid star - USA SportsRadar\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"World Darts champion Michael Smith recalls unusual friendship with Real Madrid star who messaged him while he was on the [...]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/soccer\/darts-champion-michael-smith-recalls-friendship-with-real-madrid-star\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"USA SportsRadar\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-12-16T01:25:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jose\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Darts-champion-Michael-Smith-recalls-friendship-with-Real-Madrid-star.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jose\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/soccer\/darts-champion-michael-smith-recalls-friendship-with-real-madrid-star\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/soccer\/darts-champion-michael-smith-recalls-friendship-with-real-madrid-star\/\",\"name\":\"Darts champion Michael Smith recalls friendship with Real Madrid star - USA SportsRadar\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-16T01:25:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-16T01:25:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/soccer\/darts-champion-michael-smith-recalls-friendship-with-real-madrid-star\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/soccer\/darts-champion-michael-smith-recalls-friendship-with-real-madrid-star\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/soccer\/darts-champion-michael-smith-recalls-friendship-with-real-madrid-star\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Soccer\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/category\/soccer\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Darts champion Michael Smith recalls friendship with Real Madrid star\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/\",\"name\":\"USA SportsRadar\",\"description\":\"usasportsradar.com\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609\",\"name\":\"Jose\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jose\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Darts champion Michael Smith recalls friendship with Real Madrid star - USA SportsRadar","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/soccer\/darts-champion-michael-smith-recalls-friendship-with-real-madrid-star\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Darts champion Michael Smith recalls friendship with Real Madrid star - USA SportsRadar","og_description":"World Darts champion Michael Smith recalls unusual friendship with Real Madrid star who messaged him while he was on the [...]","og_url":"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/soccer\/darts-champion-michael-smith-recalls-friendship-with-real-madrid-star\/","og_site_name":"USA SportsRadar","article_published_time":"2023-12-16T01:25:03+00:00","author":"Jose","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Darts-champion-Michael-Smith-recalls-friendship-with-Real-Madrid-star.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jose","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/soccer\/darts-champion-michael-smith-recalls-friendship-with-real-madrid-star\/","url":"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/soccer\/darts-champion-michael-smith-recalls-friendship-with-real-madrid-star\/","name":"Darts champion Michael Smith recalls friendship with Real Madrid star - USA SportsRadar","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-12-16T01:25:03+00:00","dateModified":"2023-12-16T01:25:03+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/soccer\/darts-champion-michael-smith-recalls-friendship-with-real-madrid-star\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/soccer\/darts-champion-michael-smith-recalls-friendship-with-real-madrid-star\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/soccer\/darts-champion-michael-smith-recalls-friendship-with-real-madrid-star\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Soccer","item":"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/category\/soccer\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Darts champion Michael Smith recalls friendship with Real Madrid star"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/","name":"USA SportsRadar","description":"usasportsradar.com","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609","name":"Jose","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jose"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300798"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300798\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}