Rudiger opened up about his famous last-ditch blocks to deny opponents from finding the back of the net.
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Chelsea are enjoying another positive season in domestic football. The Blues have a chance of winning every cup competition they are participating in currently. They have already won the UEFA Super Cup and the Club World Cup. The Blues also reached the Carabao Cup final before losing to Liverpool in the penalties. Besides, Chelsea are also in the semifinals of the FA Cup and the quarterfinals of the Champions League. Only in the Premier League are they out of the title race. One of the hallmarks of Thomas Tuchel’s success at Chelsea is their solid backline.
Be it a back three or back four, the Blues have always been up to the task, making life extremely difficult for opponents to score. Notably, Antonio Rudiger has been one of the key figures in their defensive third. He has enjoyed a fantastic season and has played a key role in Chelsea’s defensive stability. In the latest episode of the Like a Pro series, Rudiger opened up about his life at Stamford Bridge, including some of his tussles on the pitch.
He referred to the round-of-16 victory against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League when he came up against Luis Suarez. “I don’t go into the game saying I’m going to do this or do that,” Rudiger was quoted as saying by his club’s website. “It’s just in the moment it happens. Like in this incident with Suarez, he pinched me on my leg.
“It’s not that I want to play or something like this, because he’s also I think a master of the dark side, so you always have to be careful when you play like that because sometimes it goes in your favour and sometimes it doesn’t go in yours.”
The German centre-back also revealed that those kinds of incidents and confrontations only help with his motivation. “I don’t know why I have this. I have something in me that when I see something that doesn’t matter or if I get like kicked or something like this, then I’m ready to go. Then I don’t need any extra motivation from anybody, let’s say, in a football way,” he added.
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“It’s like this in football sometimes. You can get kicked, it is what it is at the end of the day. It’s competition, it’s sport, but it’s not like you want to hurt someone and as long as you don’t go over the line, for me everything is fine.”
Rudiger further opened up about his famous last-ditch blocks to deny opponents from finding the back of the net. He notably blocked Manchester City’s Phil Foden in the Champions League final last year. “In this type of moment you don’t have too much time to think – it’s just put one leg, put both legs, hopefully you block the shot,” he explained.
“With Foden it was a 50/50 one and thank God, because normally he would take a better touch. His touch was not bad, but if he took a better touch there’s nothing I can do, so thank God that the touch went a bit more forward and then I said to myself “it’s all or nothing.”
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