Real Madrid News
Real Madrid defender confident about second leg tie against ‘not dangerous’ Man City
Speaking after the thrilling encounter between Real Madrid and Manchester City at the Santiago Bernabeu, Antonio Rudiger stated that the Merengues are confident about getting the job done at the Etihad next week.
Clashing in the first leg of the semi-finals at the Bernabeu, both teams put up an entertaining display with the game ending in a hard-fought 1-1 draw, which means the tie hangs in the balance heading into the second leg at the Etihad.
Coming into the game, there was a lot of talk about how Real Madrid would deal with Erling Haaland and the Manchester City attack in general, given the form that the English champions were in.
But, Rudiger nullified the threat of Haaland and the Manchester City attack had a relatively quiet night despite dominating possession.
“At the end of the day, they were not dangerous. They had possession, we knew that this would happen… but most importantly they were not dangerous. Obviously, their goal was quality from De Bruyne,” Rudiger said, as quoted by Mirror.
“We got the goal a bit late so we feel a bit like we could have got out with more,” the former Chelsea defender added, echoing the sentiments of his manager Carlo Ancelotti.
And he insisted that Real Madrid will go into the game at the Etihad with confidence of getting the job done.
“But it’s no problem, the tie is definitely on and we can go with confidence to Manchester. We are Real Madrid. We are always confident,” he said.
Rudiger started alongside David Alaba at the heart of the Real Madrid defence on Tuesday in the absence of Eder Militao, who was suspended for the match due to an accumulation of cards.
The German international put in a solid display, managing to keep Haaland quiet for most of the match. It will now be interesting to see whether Ancelotti retains him in the team or reinstates Militao for the second leg at the Etihad.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s move to Saudi Arabia has triggered a wave of massive establishment within the country so much so that the league has approached players like Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets, Sergio Ramos and even Karim Benzema.
Benzema’s departure from Real Madrid is imminent and if a report from Diaro AS is to be believed, the Frenchman contacted his former Madrid teammate, Ronaldo, to ask him for information about the Saudi league, living conditions and other teams.
All this because it is said that the legendary Frenchman has received a lucrative offer from the newly crowned Saudi Pro League champions Al Ittihad. As reported before, the star striker will earn more than €100 million per year across his two-year contract with the Saudi team.
At the moment, the Saudi government has approved all of Benzema’s requests and while it is said that he can join the team of his choice, Al Ittihad’s recent flirting had made them absolute favourites.
That said, the transfer may have taken a u-turn recently, as Benzema spoke about staying at Real Madrid for the foreseeable future.
“Speak to the fans? Speak about what? Why should I speak of the future if I’m in Madrid?”, Benzema said.
“It’s the internet speaking, and reality is not the internet.”
In a recent turn of events, Helder Costa openly spoke about Benzema’s arrival, saying that his team is ‘excited about the arrival of the Balon d’Or winner.’ As if that is not enough, a club fan also showed a Karim Benzema edit on the big screen during their title celebrations.
Meanwhile, since the transfer is not confirmed, Real Madrid continue to be uninformed of Benzema’s decision. And this remains a major problem for the team from the capital city as their summer transfer plan hinges on the continuity of the Frenchman.
At the moment, the team is said to be closing in on the signing of Joselu from Espanyol. However, it must be noted that the forward will only be arriving on a season-long loan as Madrid already have big plans for the summer of 2024, with Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe both lined up.
