Antonio Rudiger will begin the second leg of the Champions League semifinal against Manchester City on the bench, Real Madrid has announced.
The English champions held Los Blancos to a 1-1 draw in the first leg at the Santiago Bernabeu last week. The hosts took the lead in the first half thanks to a goal from Vinicius Junior, but Kevin De Bruyne's screamer brought them back.
Rudiger received accolades for how he handled Erling Haaland during that game. The Norwegian forward hardly made an impression in the Spanish city and was pursued and robbed for the majority of the game by the former Chelsea defender.
There were rumors that Man City manager Pep Guardiola may surprise with his starting eleven for the second leg of the Champions League match, as he frequently does, but Carlo Ancelotti seems to have beaten him to the punch.
Eder Militao has been named as Rudiger's replacement in the starting lineup by Real Madrid, with the Brazilian player making his comeback after sitting out the first leg due to a suspension.
Although they made several changes from the lineup that defeated Getafe 1-0 on Saturday in La Liga, Ancelotti's team is largely unchanged from the lineup that drew with Man City last Tuesday.
Following the first leg's tie, Rudiger bluntly asserted that Man City "were not dangerous" while on press duties.
"They got the goal quite late so we feel like we could have had more but it's not a problem, the tie is definitely on and we can go to Manchester with confidence," Rudiger said on Tuesday.
When all was said and done, they posed no threat. We anticipated this would happen, but despite their wealth of possessions, they posed no threat. The aim is for De Bruyne to produce quality.
Rudiger's response when asked how he felt about returning to the Etihad Stadium was, "We are Real Madrid, we are always confident."
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