Real Madrid’s Antonio Rüdiger is criticized after his brutal foul against Getafe FC‘s Diego Rico. The German international is accused of intent. He now launches a verbal counterattack.
It’s not the first time he’s been discussed. Antonio Rüdiger has repeatedly made headlines in recent years with his uncontrolled actions and brutal foul play.
After a brutal foul in the league game against Getafe, the anger was once again great, and the German international soccer player from Real Madrid was confronted with accusations from his opponent Diego Rico that he had intentionally and maliciously fouled.
Rüdiger now vehemently rejected this. “If you look at the pictures in slow motion, of course, it looks bad. I don’t want to downplay that,” said Rüdiger in the press conference before the second leg of the round of 16 in the Champions League on Tuesday (9 p.m. / DAZN) against Manchester City and went on to verbal counterattack.
“The way he talked after the game, you would think I had killed him,” said the 33-year-old, who is on the verge of reaching the quarter-finals of the premier class with Real after their 3-0 win in the first leg.
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In the 1-0 defeat against Getafe in the Spanish league at the beginning of March, Rüdiger hit Rico, who was lying on the ground, in the face with his knee in the middle of the first half. The German’s entry was not penalized by the referee. The video referee also did not intervene. “I like to play hard. But I also have limits,” said the defender. It was never his intention to intentionally foul the Spaniard.
Rico’s accusation to Rüdiger
Diego Rico had accused Rüdiger of brutality after the game: “No other professional would attack a player lying on the ground with such malice and hit him so brutally with his knee when the ball was not in that area.”
Before the much-discussed scene, Rüdiger had already spoken to him: “Then, on the very next move, the ball came to me and you could see how he practically pushed his teammate out of the way to smash my face in,” said Rico. The left-back had to be treated after the action, but was able to finish the game.
Rüdiger now said he didn’t want to hurt Diego Rico and added smugly: “If I had intentionally fouled him, he wouldn’t have gotten up again.”
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