Former Aston Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor accused Antonio Rudiger of playing like someone who “didn’t want to injure” himself after Chelsea ’s 3-1 home defeat to Real Madrid.
Thomas Tuchel’s side were downed by a Karim Benzema masterclass, after the French striker scored a lethal hat-trick to put Carlo Ancelotti’'s side into the driving seat. But the tipping point of the contest, and quite possibly the tie itself, came within the first minute of the second half when Edouard Mendy’s under hit pass to Rudiger was brutally exploited by Benzema.
Mendy scuffed his initial ball to Rudiger, but the former Roma defender failed to clear his lines, despite getting to the ball past. And Agbonlahor accused Rudiger, who looks set to depart Stamford Bridge when his contract expires at the end of the campaign, of not fully committing to the challenge.
“I know it was a bad pass on Mendy, but Rudiger’s tackle was someone who didn’t want to get injured, like he’s got a move ready, and he didn’t want to hurt himself,” Agbonlahor said to TalkSPORT.
Rudiger has been linked with a free transfer to Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Bayern Munich at the end of the campaign when he will be able to leave for nothing. He has been hailed as one of Tuchel’s best players ever since the former Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund boss replaced Frank Lampard.
However, even former Chelsea ace Mario Melchiot admitted he was puzzled by the fact Rudiger did not win the challenge. “I can’t really say that, because he’s normally so tough, he does not care about that,” Melchiot responded to Agbonlahor.
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“But the way he went in it, I agree with you, he could have gone tougher. And he went with his left foot instead of his right and normally if you make the tackle with your right, and you go all the way [you would win the ball].
“Everything was half, half ball, half challenge, and that’s why Benzema [scored].” Chelsea will have to overturn a two-goal deficit if they are to progress into the semi-finals of the contest.
While the abolishing of the away goal rule at the start of the campaign means Chelsea are not completely without hope, a 2-0 victory at the Bernabeu to force extra-time is still a daunting challenge.
And Tuchel warned his side that improvements are desperately needed if they are to prolong their Champions League title defence. “We changed the formation and wanted to turn things around because I think personally there was enough where we could hurt them,” Tuchel said after the game.
“But we were so far off our level in everything what the game demands, tactically, individually, in shape, in stiffness, in challenges that we tried to play in a new formation and then killed the game off with a big mistake after three minutes [in the second half.
“Like I said, individually we lost shape and sharpness and obviously since the international break we don’t look the same. ‘I don’t really have an explanation because before we had a long winning streak and were very competitive, the first half by far was not good enough.”
