The German centre-back could be the key for Los Blancos in their efforts to advance to a fourth straight Champions League semi-final
In early April, Real Madrid centre-back Antonio Rudiger was asked in a press conference about his toughest opponent. The interviewer insisted that it must surely be Erling Haaland, the Ballon d'Or contending presence who tore up the Premier League last season. Rudiger, though, brushed that notion off.
"Haaland was definitely one of the strongest, but if I could say one who was very tough, it would be Kun Aguero," he responded.
Rudiger's comments are, of course, warranted. Aguero was the razor-sharp edge of City's pre-Haaland era, a striker who scored 260 goals for the reigning Premier League champions, including 184 in the English top-flight. But Haaland, we are led to believe, is of another level. Bigger, stronger and faster than the tricky Argentine, Haaland was the striker that no one could quite figure out how to stop.
That is, until Rudiger did. The German centre-back shut the Norwegian down in the first leg of the 2023 Champions League semi-final between Madrid and City. He repeated the trick last week, too. Rudiger's comments might have been interpreted as disrespectful or unwarranted, but the proof is in his performances.
Madrid have found their Haaland killer, and if Rudiger can repeat his Santiago Bernabeu heroics on Wednesday, then Los Blancos could find themselves in the Champions League semi-finals for a fourth-straight season.
Getty ImagesLocking down The Terminator
Rudiger was not a regular starter during his first season at Madrid after joining from Chelsea on a free transfer, and only made Carlo Ancelotti's line up on 26 occasions in La Liga, as the Italian largely preferred the partnership between Eder Militao and David Alaba at the heart of his defence.
But with Militao unavailable for Madrid's biggest game of the campaign – the first leg of the Champions League semi-final with City in early May – Rudiger was charged with marking Haaland. The Norwegian was on fire when he arrived at the Bernabeu on May 9, and wasn't far removed from a five-goal showing against RB Leipzig in the last 16.
Rudiger, though, didn't seem fazed by the quality of striker he was up against. Haaland was effectively marked out of the game, and only managed 21 touches in what was his worst outing in a City shirt to that point. Even Pep Guardiola admitted that his star man had been silenced on the night.
"Congratulations to Rudiger, but Erling, we cannot forget, is 22 and it was the first time he has played in the semi-finals of the Champions League," Guardiola said. "For the first time going to the Bernabeu, one of the biggest stages, against a top-class club with good defenders, midfielders and strikers, next time will be a little bit easier."
AdvertisementGetty ImagesGlaring omission
The Catalan coach's prediction proved to be right, in part because of a rare selection slip from his opposite number. Ancelotti is famous for his man-management and squad set-up, but against City at the Etihad last season, he made once crucial error, as he ignored Rudiger's star showing in the first leg of the semi-final, and instead started brought Militao back in to partner Alaba. It proved to be a costly error, as while Haaland didn't score that day, he wasn't forced into anonymity, either.
Bernardo Silva grabbed the headlines with a scintillating double as the Madrid defensive structure crumbled without the man who had so comfortably marshalled the Premier League's top scorer in the first leg. City were dominant that day, and Rudiger's presence perhaps wouldn't have prevented the onslaught of a 4-0 win. Still, it was an error that contributed to one of the worst nights in recent Real Madrid memory.
GettyGiven his chance
Had things gone differently, Rudiger might have found himself in the same situation this time around. Ancelotti omitted Rudiger from his line up in pre-season and in the early goings of the campaign, opting instead to start the Militao-Alaba partnership that had collapsed in the biggest game of the previous season.
But things changed almost immediately. Militao tore his ACL early in the second half of the first game of the campaign, and Rudiger was thrust into action. Since then, he has become a regular starter, and when Alaba picked up an ACL injury of his own in December, Rudiger went from being the odd man out to the most experienced centre-back option in the Madrid ranks.
And after a patchy start to the campaign, he has settled in nicely. Routinely marking the opposition's most dangerous striker, and overseeing an often mismatched defensive unit, Rudiger has thrived. He has also looked as comfortable on the ball as ever, and sits in the 89th percentile among centre-backs in pass completion percentage, according to . Madrid currently have the best defence in La Liga – allowing just 20 goals in 31 games – and Rudiger is a massive part of why.
GettyRepeating the trick
If Haaland had hoped that his second visit to the Bernabeu would go better than his first, then he was sorely mistaken. A lot of the talk in the run up to the game focused on the clash between he and Rudiger, with there a narrative within the Spanish media that the German was the superstar striker's 'final boss' whom he had yet to conquer.
"This time, the plan will be to control dangerous players like Phil Foden, [Kevin] De Bruyne, and Haaland," Rudiger explained pre-match. "It's personal for me as a defensive player, against a super striker like Haaland."
And he delivered on that promise. If Haaland was bad at the Bernabeu last season, he was unquestionably awful this time around. Haaland touched the ball just 20 times, lost possession on seven separate occasions, put only one shot on target, and didn't complete a single dribble. Former Real Madrid midfielder Rafael van der Vaart, after taking it all in, had a simple explanation: "If he doesn't score, he's quite useless."
This was by no means a solo effort by Rudiger, though. Makeshift centre-back Aurelien Tchouameni stepped in and made crucial interventions, too. But Rudiger was at the centre of it all, nudging Haaland off the ball, throwing elbows and snapping into duels at the right time. This wasn't a classy showing from Rudiger, but it was an unsettling one – enough to knock one of the world's best off his game.