"If someone wins 14 times, you can't talk about luck"

Real Madrid arrive on his favourite stage, the one before a Champions League final. He feels comfortable and escapes a pressure that Antonio Rudiger does not have either, as he expressed in his last interview with ‘El Mundo’. The German centre-back, important this season with so many injuries at the back, assumes that role and approaches this fight for the title with conviction. He admits that he has become accustomed to the demand to win every game.

"It's the moment I've been dreaming of. To be in a final with Real Madrid. Given their history, they've won it so many times but it's still special. It's my first Champions League final here and I feel good. I'm enjoying the moment. The dressing room is calm and focused because you can't be over-excited. These players already know these kind of games. They have played them many times and they are calm, something that is transmitted to the team. Life is about balance, finding the middle ground between excitement and calm," says Rudiger.

Questioned about whether Real Madrid's DNA is a little bit down to luck, the German replied: "No, no... if someone wins 14 times, you can't talk about luck. What people say to you in the street, wherever you go, is ‘let's go for the 15th’. It's the DNA. Winning. I like it and that's why I signed. I feel a lot of responsibility because this club is only about winning and for me life is also about that, so it's perfect. A good fit."

"In my first year, the club was coming from winning La Liga and the Champions League and the players had an advantage, I understand that. I didn't play many important games and honestly I didn't feel important, but this year, also because of injuries, things have changed. That's why this final is so important for me. To mark the end of this year. Afraid of the final? Fear only of God. At the end of the day we are human beings and you don't have to fear another human being. I am a Muslim and I have a very strong belief, so I only fear God, who is the creator of everything. You don't have to fear anyone else," says Rudiger.

The Real Madrid dressing room has experienced some emotional days with the farewell of Toni Kroos, who will close his time as a professional footballer at club level with the Champions League final: "I knew him from the national team, but we hadn't been that close. I had a different perception of him, but when I came here I met the real Kroos. A great guy who loves his family, and because I'm a father myself it makes me respect him a lot. I see a great role model, that treatment of his family I haven't seen in any other footballer".

May 30, 2024