The first call was in September but it was not until Antonio Rüdiger picked up the phone in April that he decided to join Real Madrid, the former Chelsea defender has revealed.
His destination had not been determined when he visited the Santiago Bernabéu for the first time, defeated in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, but by the time Real played the final against Liverpool it was done. A conversation with Carlo Ancelotti clinched it, the defender saying that Barcelona called but that he informed his agent: “It’s Madrid or nothing.”
