ÜHe does not want to judge whether it is wrong or right, said Antonio Rüdiger. You have to know the emotional state of the players in order to act accordingly, he added with a view to the events of Saturday evening: the continuation of a football game in which it was a matter of life and death. He himself, said Rüdiger then, would probably not have wanted to continue in a situation like the one on Saturday evening in Copenhagen: “Personally, I think I couldn’t have played.”
The press conference of the German national team on Sunday in Herzogenaurach was also dominated by the drama about the Dane Christian Eriksen, and after team doctor Tim Meyer appeared on the podium as an unscheduled guest and reported that the players had “a lot of information” the next morning , Rüdiger and Lukas Klostermann spoke about the events of the previous evening. Klostermann called it an “absolute shock moment”, Rüdiger a “shock for us all”.
That evening, the team had sent a greeting to Eriksen via the digital channels, a team photo with thumbs up and wishes for recovery. “We felt the need to send a bit of positive energy over,” said Klostermann. On Sunday, Rüdiger submitted the wish for “lots and lots of strength for him and of course for his family”. These were empathetic words from a man who had been called a “warrior” in the past few days by Kai Havertz and Timo Werner, his club colleagues at Chelsea FC.
Resolute and determined
On Sunday that was also the term that thematically led back to the actual playing field, sport. Rüdiger seemed to be a little strange with “this whole warrior thing”, as he called it. Not in the matter of his kind of resolute duel, but because he doesn’t see anything new in this ascription, just because he captured the Champions League trophy a few weeks ago: “I’ve always played like this.”
Not a man of many words, but resolute and determined – that was actually the impression given by Rüdiger. At the same time, the 28-year-old central defender made it clear that exactly these qualities are necessary when the German team enters the tournament against France on Tuesday (9 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the European Football Championship, on ZDF and on MagentaTV).
Against the offensive of the world champion with Kylian Mbappé, Antoine Griezmann and, more recently, Karim Benzema, it is “of course the defenders” that count. “We have to be ready to have one-on-one situations and win them,” said Rüdiger, the man with the black carbon mask that made him appear a bit grimmer on the pitch: “Simply disgusting be, not always dear, dear, dear, dear, dear, or try everything playfully beautiful, beautiful. You have to set an example against such players – early on. “
This Monday, the German team will set off for Munich at 10.30 a.m., national coach Joachim Löw will have to do without Jonas Hofmann, who injured his knee in training on Thursday, and, according to all previous statements by the coaching team, also Leon Goretzka, who after his muscle injury already trained with the team again, but not yet eligible for the game on Tuesday. “France looks stronger on paper,” said Rüdiger on Sunday: “But it’s only paper.” On the pitch, the picture should be completely different: “We have to dictate our game, we can do it, we have enough quality for it , we are ready.”
.
