Antonio Rudiger has shared his strategy for dealing with stress at Real Madrid.
The aggressive central defender made the move from Chelsea to Real Madrid last summer, and despite his early-season struggles to earn a spot in Carlo Ancelotti’s starting lineup, he has improved greatly.
According to Transfermarkt, Rudiger has played 42 times for Los Blancos in all competitions and is still a vital member of the team as the season comes to a close.
When quizzed on how he has managed to deal with the ever-demanding nature of the club’s fanbase, the 30-year-old suggested he has devised a mechanism which helps him.
He cited Madrid’s record goal scorer Cristiano Ronaldo, current club captain Karim Benzema and mercurial midfielder Luka Modric as his source of inspiration when dealing with pressure.
For me, it’s very simple. Because Cristiano got criticized here, Benzema got criticized here, Luka Modrić, all of them” Rudiger said as quoted by MadridXtra.
He added: “Who am I not to get criticized?”
Why Rudiger deliberately makes mistakes
Meanwhile, Rudiger has disclosed he deliberately made mistakes in games last season in order to get the crowd charged, Sports Brief reported.
The 29-year-old was a key figure in Chelsea’s backline under Thomas Tuchel and produced a number of masterclass performances as the Blues advanced to two domestic cup finals.
Rudiger, who was a fan favourite with the Chelsea faithful, has admitted that he sometimes deliberately made mistakes to wake up the “quiet” crowd.
Fans hurl objects at Rudiger
It was earlier reported that supporters of Cadiz did not make life easy for Real Madrid following their La Liga encounter last week.
German defender Antonio Rudiger, in particular, found himself in the bad books of the fans, despite gifting one of their own with his shirt after the game.
Cadiz supporters threw objects at the Madrid star after the game, while he went to give one of the fans his match shirt. They also swore at him.