Antonio Rudiger Reflects on How He Did a ‘Sergio Ramos’ on Kevin De Bruyne

• Incoming Real Madrid central defender Antonio Rudiger has recounted his infamous Kevin De Bruyne body-check in the 2021 UEFA Champions League finals
• His shove on the De Bruyne resulted in the Belgian sustaining an injury with Chelsea eventually proceeding to win its second Champions League title
• The 29-year-old defender recently signed a four-year deal with Real Madrid and will join the Spanish giants at the end of the season

Outgoing Chelsea centre-half Antonio Rudiger took a trip down memory lane to reflect on his Champions League success with the Blues and his infamous shove on Kevin De Bruyne in last season's finals.

Chelsea managed to turn around their 2020-21 season to reach the Champions League finals and had Manchester City on their way to annexing their second 'big-eared' European trophy.

Rudiger's Chelsea managed to pip City to the trophy in yet another all-English final but it came with its own controversy.

Referee who ‘robbed’ Chelsea in 2009 Tom Ovrebo finally admits Chelsea deserved a penalty against Barcelona

Football

The hard-tackling German defender body-checked De Bruyne in the 56th minute which resulted in the latter getting injured and eventually subbed off.

Reflecting on the incident, in which Rudiger has apologized to De Bruyne, the German stressed there was no malice in his tackle.

"That was a long 45 minutes plus! In the 60th minute I was like: 'Oh dear, is it still that long?' There were so many blocks and tackles in that half - we really fought for our lives," he told DAZN as quoted by GOAL.

"I'll make it clear that I wanted to block [De Bruyne], but not in a way that knocked him out. It's not my style. I like to play hard, but I haven't seen a red card in five years.

"A lot of people talked about the scene afterwards, but I didn't care because I didn't do it on purpose.

Senegal Captain Speaks on Regrets over waiting 2 years to play for French national team

Football

"I called and texted him afterwards to apologise. He said that everything was fine and that he knew me. I also apologised via social media and quickly made it clear that it was definitely not on purpose."

It will be recalled Liverpool talisman Mohamed Salah suffered a similar fate when Real Madrid played Liverpool in the 2019 Champions League finals which saw the Egyptian sustaining an injury after Sergio Ramos hacked him down.

Rudiger describes Benzema as the 'best' striker in the world

Earlier, Sports Brief reported that soon-to-be Real Madrid defender Antonio Rudiger has heaped praise on Karim Benzema, who has had a stellar campaign this season.

Rudiger, who is on his way out of Chelsea at the end of the season, took time to eulogize Benzema for carrying Real Madrid since the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo.

Benzema, who is the bookmakers' favourite to win the Ballon d'Or, has bagged an eyewatering 44 goals while pushing Madrid to La Liga success and the finals of the UEFA Champions League.