Antonio Rudiger is on his way out of Chelsea. After leaving Chelsea at the conclusion of the season, the 29-year-old has spoken up about his relationship with former manager Frank Lampard.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Lampard sacked Rudiger for no reason, according to Rudiger, and Thomas Tuchel saved him at the club.
“I was on the floor, brother, not even six months before that [Champions League] final,” Rudiger told The Players’ Tribune.
“I’d been dropped from the team at the moment, and I couldn’t figure out why.” One day, we had a meeting, and the manager informed me that we had a deep team and that he preferred others to me. That was the end of it.
“There were a lot of rumors after that.” On social media, I was receiving a lot of hatred. It was the most difficult moment of my career, and I kept quiet to avoid causing problems for the club.
“Imagine if you had told me that I would be starting in the Champions League Final against City in a few months?
“It was a new life for me when Tuchel came in as manager and offered me a chance. He really did something right immediately that I believe many managers might benefit from. It was unrelated to strategy. “Toni, tell me about yourself,” he continued as he approached me.
“He wanted to know where my anger and appetite stemmed from, so I told him about growing up in Berlin-Neukölln and how all the older kids started nicknamed me ‘Rambo’ because I used to play so hard on the concrete pitches.”
“He inquired about my character. That was significant. When Tuchel gave me a chance, I was so fired up that I never wanted to return to the bench. Despite all that had been said about me, I had made up my mind to devote 100 percent to this club, to this badge. After everything I had gone through, the Champions League was just the cherry on top.”
Rudiger went on to help Chelsea win the Champions League last season, and he has shown his gratitude to current Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho.
“The match itself [the Champions League final versus Manchester City] was amazing,” Rudiger said, “because we won against an unbelievable City squad by defending as a unit and attacking them on the counter.”
“We fought for our lives and emerged victorious in the end.” I was racing around like a lunatic as the final whistle blew, and Tuchel happened to be going my way, so I gave him a big hug. That was a memorable experience for me, and I will be always grateful to him for giving me a second chance when I was presumed dead.”
