Antonio Rudiger believes Germany should take some notes from Real Madrid ahead of their Euro 2024 campaign.
Die Mannschaft are preparing to host this summer’s European Championships and will be under even more scrutiny after failing to go beyond the round of 16 in any of their last three major tournaments — even exiting the last two World Cups at the group stage.
Julian Nagelsmann’s side played out a disappointing 0-0 draw with Ukraine in Nuremberg on Monday meaning that ahead of Friday’s final warm-up match against Greece, Germany have won just two of their last six matches — although those victories did come against France and the Netherlands.
Rudiger urges Germany to ‘adopt killer instinct’
Although a goalless draw is not the result Nagelsmann or Germany’s supporters would have wanted against Ukraine, there were plenty of positives to take from the match.
Germany attempted 27 shots on goal throughout the 90 minutes — including two big chances — and were only thwarted thanks to some heroics from Ukraine stopper Anatolii Trubin of Benfica.
However, with only five of their 27 attempts hitting the target, there is a clear lack of cutting edge among the German ranks.
Centre-back Antonio Rudiger — fresh from winning a La Liga and Champions League double with Real Madrid — has urged his international teammates to take note of the ruthlessness of Los Blancos to ensure they put teams to the sword at the Euros.
“We can adapt that killer instinct,” the former Chelsea defender said at a press conference this week (via 90min).
The 31-year-old added: “I haven’t seen such a good 0-0 in a while. We missed some goals, but we can learn a lot from Madrid.
“We must be humble. We all know what has happened in the last tournaments.”
Germany face Scotland in the opening match of Euro 2024 a week on Friday, with the match in Munich kicking off at 8pm (UK time).