Real Madrid have not been as solid as Carlo Ancelotti might have liked this season, which is in part down to the absence of Eder Militao. But in that absence, Antonio Rudiger has grown into the team, and after Dani Carvajal, is probably their most reliable defender this season. The German international is delivering on an aspiration six years in the making.
Speaking to Relevo, his brother an agent Sahr Senesie explains that Rudiger has trusted him implicitly to make the best decisions for him, choosing Roma over Chelsea and Milan, before he eventually moved to London. Senesie also admits that he was negotiating with Barcelona before Rudiger signed for Los Blancos, but the defender had his heart set on Madrid.
“Coming to Madrid was always his dream. When he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee in Rome (2016), Real Madrid sent him a letter wishing him a speedy recovery. And he said: ‘Someday I’ll be at that club.’ He had just had a serious injury and was not afraid. He only thought about going to play for the best team in the world. This is Antonio. In the worst moments, he fights. There’s no other way.”
The 30-year-old has risen to the occasion in recent months too.
“Real Madrid means a lot to Antonio. He feels a lot of responsibility playing there. He wanted to complete that goal of playing at the Santiago Bernabeu and now he is completing it.”
In spite of his sometimes unorthodox approach, Senesie says there is an emotional intelligence behind it.
“He is a calm and crazy guy at the same time, in the most positive sense of the word. He is an emotional leader. He knows well when the team needs jokes and positive things, but also when work needs to be done. Mix this together and that’s what makes him special.”
And while he might live for the adrenaline on the pitch, his life off it could not be further from the truth. The only person that scares both Senesie and Rudiger is their mother.
“The most boring guy in the world. Really. The most boring. Always with the family, and all day at home. He has a good house and is always there. And he likes to go to the zoo and sit and watch the lions. He loves the attitude of lions.”
Something of a marmite character on the pitch, away from the game it is clear that Rudiger has fought his way to the top, growing up in Berlin as an immigrant family from Sierra Leone, content with little, but always aspiring to more.
