Real Madrid defender Antonio Rudiger aimed a little dig at Manchester City after last night’s 1-1 draw in the Champions League semi-final first leg at the Bernabeu.
Rudiger played well on the night, keeping in-form City striker Erling Haaland quiet, but Vinicius Junior’s opening goal was eventually cancelled out by a Kevin De Bruyne equaliser.
Still, overall it seems Rudiger didn’t rate Pep Guardiola’s side that highly, suggesting that the Premier League champions were not particularly dangerous, and it was just a moment of quality from De Bruyne that earned them the draw.
The former Chelsea man perhaps feels his side have cause for optimism ahead of next week’s second leg at the Etihad Stadium, where Real will be hoping to reach the final for a second year in a row after their 1-0 triumph over Liverpool last season.
“They got the goal quite late so we feel like we could have had more but it’s not a problem, the tie is definitely on and we can go to Manchester with confidence,” Rudiger said after the game, as quoted by the Metro.
“At the end of the day they were not dangerous. They had a lot of possession, we knew this would happen, but they were not dangerous. The goal is quality from De Bruyne.”
He added: “We are Real Madrid, we are always confident.”
Perhaps this will just serve as more motivation for City to be more ‘dangerous’ in the return fixture.