To celebrate UA have released a video Rüdiger ‘Unboxed‘, where he talks in-depth about the moments that shaped his journey and made him into a tough athlete and inspirational leader. Check it out, it’s interesting.
ON FACING HIS OLD CLUB IN THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE:
“I had a feeling – and I even told my teammates – that we were going get Chelsea. For me it is a special game against my old club. To see a lot of familiar faces will be nice and at this stage of the Champions League, very exciting.”
REFLECTING ON HIS TIME AT CHELSEA AND WINNING THE UCL IN 2021:
“It’s been a journey, a really hard journey, because the build-up to winning the Champions League in 2021 was very difficult. And then the year after to maintain that type of level is not always easy. These couple years made me realize that it’s not the titles that make you. It’s the journey that does.”
ON WHICH OLD CHELSEA TEAMMATES HE KEEPS IN TOUCH WITH:
“With Matteo Kovacic, it feels like we are still playing together. We speak twice a week so I’m looking forward to seeing him. Not only him however; Hakim Ziyech, who I also get on well with and Mason Mount, Reece James – there’s a lot of familiar faces but also a lot of new faces of course. So, it’s going to be very interesting.”
ON THE FAN RECEPTION AT STAMFORD BRIDGE:
“I cannot speak for every fan, but I know from old teammates, old staff and ex-colleagues, that they will receive me with a very warm welcome.”
ON ADAPTING TO THE LA LIGA PLAYING STYLE:
“You must adapt your playing style because the Premier League is tough and there is more rhythm in the game. In Spain there are a lot of fouls and they blow the whistle quickly. There’s a lot of red cards in La Liga so you must be careful with how you touch people otherwise you can get sent off easily. These things you have to adapt to, but in general, La Liga is very competitive and very technical. What I like about Spain the most is that teams don’t just play the longball or try to kick the ball away. They all try to play out from the back and that is fun.”
WHETHER THERE IS A PARTICULAR TEAM HE IS WORRIED ABOUT IN THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE:
“I think at this stage you must worry about any team. You have us, you have Chelsea, which when you look at the individual players, they have a lot of quality. Then there is Bayern Munich, Man City, even Benfica, who are also a very, very difficult team to play. Napoli as well. I think at this stage, there is no looking left and right, you must focus on yourself. Every team is strong, anyone can hurt anybody.”
ON THE KEY TO BEATING CHELSEA:
“For me, it is always about finding the right balance in the game between attacking and defending. Obviously as a defender a clean sheet would be the best. But at the end of the day, when it comes to tactics, I’m not the coach. It’s for the coach to prepare strategies for each opponent. So I can’t say much about tactics… but for me it’s always about approaching the game in the right manner, with the right balance.”
