Antonio Rudiger has hailed Chelsea’s fighting spirit and says he was always confident they would make a comeback against Manchester City.
Chelsea’s fighting spirit alongside the calm words of Thomas Tuchel at the break enabled the Blues to claim a victory over Guardiola’s men, says Rudiger.
Chelsea found themselves one goal behind at halftime against Manchester City on Saturday, and it should have been two after Sergio Aguero missed a penalty right before the break.
Antonio Rudiger has been fantastic under Tuchel since he arrived at the end of January, and he was once again having a decent game at the back for Chelsea.
The German international has revealed what Tuchel told his players at halftime to inspire a turnaround that saw them eventually win the game 2-1 against the league leaders after a late Marcos Alonso winner.
Rudiger says it was all about belief, and he and his players never lost faith in getting a result on Saturday.
“It was a crazy game!” Rudiger said as per the club’s website.
“We conceded in the last few minutes of the first half, then there was the penalty also which was saved by Edou. Then we came out for the second half and we started very strong after half-time.”
“We showed a great fighting spirit. Even the players that haven’t always played that often, they came into the team against a very strong City side and they made the difference for us and this is very important because it shows we need everyone to play their part.”
“Against a team like City, you can accept that they will have a lot of the ball. We were all clear before the game that we knew we would have moments where we would suffer. We went through that and kept working hard.”
“Other than their goal and the penalty, I don’t think they created too much. We remained focus on our game and we always believed we could create chances of our own.”
Speaking on Tuchel’s impact, Rudiger made sure to heap praise on his compatriot as well.
He added: “At half-time, we were still in the game and the coach highlighted that to us. He wanted us to go out and show spirit, which we did, and we all totally believed that we could turn things around.”
“They are a very strong team but they are also human, and there will be times when they make mistakes. When that happens, you have to be ready to punish them and we did that at the end with our winning goal and it was a great feeling for everyone to get this victory.”
Be sure not to miss out on the latest news about Thomas Tuchel
Download our brand new App and follow your favorite players, clubs, and much more
