Real tame City hitman
ADMITS HIS BATTLE WITH HAALAND WAS SOMETHING ‘PERSONAL’
Antonio Rudiger put Real Madrid into the Champions League semifinals, not only by scoring the winning penalty against Manchester City on Wednesday but also by keeping Erling Haaland quiet across the tie.
The German defender’s two strong displays against City’s Norwegian hitman helped Madrid hold their own across 210 minutes of thrilling quarterfinal action, ending in a 4-4 aggregate draw before the shoot-out.
After Luka Modric missed for Madrid and their goalkeeper Andriy Lunin denied Bernardo Silva and Mateo Kovacic, Rudiger completed the 4-3 penalty triumph over the reigning champions.
The centre-back strolled calmly up to the penalty spot and drilled a low effort in off the post, beating Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson even though he dived the right way.
Rudiger, who joined from Chelsea in 2022, is one of the few players in Madrid’s squad yet to win the Champions League with Los Blancos, but he did lift it in 2021 with the Blues.
With David Alaba and Eder Militao out injured for long stretches of the campaign, Rudiger has established himself as an essential figure at the back for Madrid.
That was made evident over the two legs against Manchester City, in which the 31-year-old stopped Haaland from adding to his 31 goals across all competitions.
After Rodrygo’s early goal, City dominated but Madrid’s defence, marshalled by Rudiger and captain Nacho Fernandez, stayed afloat.
“I like when I see a team that sacrifices and fights so much,” said Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti.
“Winning here can only be achieved in this way.”
Before the tie Rudiger said he took his battle with Haaland as something “personal”.
The defender excelled last season in the 1-1 semifinal first leg draw with City at the Santiago Bernabeu.
However Ancelotti dropped him for the second leg and Madrid were hammered 4-0 by Pep Guardiola’s rampant side, who went on to win the trophy for the first time.
Ancelotti accepted his mistake and confirmed on Tuesday Rudiger would be starting against City at the Etihad Stadium.
Madrid’s defensive display showed the Italian had made the correct call – not that they had many other options with Aurelien Tchouameni out injured and Militao only fit for a few minutes off the bench.
With the defence so stretched this season it made their resistance against the English treble-winners all the more impressive.
“We showed another side of ourselves, we defended spectacularly,” Madrid defender Nacho told Movistar. “We fought right until the end.” –