Antonio Rüdiger has spoken in an interview to with Sport1 in Germany about life as a Real Madrid player.
“We are getting results and are having a lot of fun as a team and I have adapted very well. To be honest, never has a team made it so easy for me straight away.”
The Germany international said in his official Real Madrid presentation that Pepe was one of his role models and he discussed the veteran centre-back once again. “He was my great role model at Real Madrid, I always wanted to be like him. I used to watch videos of him straddling his opponents. I was still young then and I wanted to show everyone that I could be tough too. That was in my head. It was unbelievable how good Pepe was. Not only in the tackle, but also in the preparation of the game. But today everyone at Real tells me that off the pitch he was actually a very quiet character. And you know what? He’s been the only player I’ve waited an hour for to get his shirt. Pepe, Sergio Ramos and Thiago Silva are the three names of players I’m most proud of in my shirt collection – absolute legends,” he said in quotes transcribed by Goal.
On relationship with Toni Kroos
“Who has surprised me the most? Toni Kroos. We’ve always got on well and respectfully in the national team, but there we’ve always exchanged two sentences with each other. Something like ‘hello, how are you’ and ‘goodbye’. Maybe because we simply didn’t have enough time. At Real Madrid, I met a different Toni Kroos. He speaks Spanish very well, is completely open and also very helpful. He has helped me with the language from day one and has offered to help me with other things on the spur of the moment several times. He’s a very relaxed guy.”
On Carlo Ancelotti
“I had only been in our new house with my family for a few hours. We were having a barbecue, until suddenly the doorbell rang. I opened it and in front of me was Carlo Ancelotti. A moment of astonishment. He sat at our table, ate with us and met my family. Very normal, very down to earth. He stayed for two hours and we talked about everything. If I’m being honest, I’ve never experienced anything like this, no coach has ever done anything like this for me. After a few months with him, I have to say that when it comes to dealing with players, Ancelotti is untouchable. Don Carlo, a coaching legend, was already collecting Champions League titles when I was a kid. Working with him every day at the most successful club in the world is wonderful.”
GSFN
