Former Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger has claimed in an interview with SPORT1 that he deliberately made mistakes in a Chelsea game last season in order to get the crowd involved.
The German was again an important figure in the Blues’ backline last season, and produced a number of mammoth displays as the club made their way to two domestic cup finals.
While they ended up short in both of those games, the defence can certainly not be looked at, with them keeping a clean sheet against free-flowing Liverpool in over four hours of football.
With that being said, Rudiger has told SPORT1 that he perhaps wasn’t at his best at all times, after he was asked about his antics and running style on the pitch.
He said: “I’m doing it because I think I’m faster that way. If people find that amusing, I like to laugh along with them.
Rudiger deliberately made mistakes
“Many will remember the scene you mentioned in Chelsea’s game against Newcastle last season. I’ll be honest: I deliberately made a few mistakes because it was just too quiet in the stadium for me during this game. I wanted to wake people up with it.”
The fixture in question came just after the club were sanctioned while under Roman Abramovich’s ownership, which was understandably creating a sombre mood around Stamford Bridge at the time.
In a game hardly filled with chances, a piece of individual brilliance from Kai Havertz secured what ended up being a big three points for Chelsea back in March.
Rudiger is now enjoying a strong start to his Real Madrid career, with them winning six games out of six so far this season in the league.
They sit above Barcelona, with the battles between those two set to be must-watch events later this season.
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