After cup grid
DFB clearly criticizes Antonio Rüdiger – probably no punishment
04/28/2025 – 12:01 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
The scandal about Antonio Rüdiger’s freak out in the Spanish cup final continues to circles. Now the DFB is also expressed.
The German Football Association (DFB) clearly criticized Antonio Rüdiger after his freak out in the Spanish cup final, but will not sanction the international according to information from the Sport Information Service (SID).
DFB sports director Rudi Völler told the SID: “Toni is a great player-but as a national player, he also has to show great with his behavior. He rightly demands respect for himself, he must also put this respect without exception.”
Rüdiger is “an outstanding footballer and a very emotional guy, a fighter on the square”, he should also preserve these properties. Nevertheless, Völler emphasized: “But in this case, he and some teammates have too much infected by the atmosphere, which was extremely heated around the club before the game.” Such behavior is particularly unacceptable as a German international.
Völler explained that Rüdiger had to “change” – and that was also aware of that for the defender. “Toni reported to Julian and me yesterday and we talked about the situation for a long time. With him directly, but also internally with Bernd Neuendorf and Andreas Rettig,” continued Völler.
In the cup final between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona (2: 3 after extension), Rüdiger had thrown a role of the Tape Association in the direction of the referee. He received the red card for this and then loudly insulted the referee in German. Several teammates and officials from Real Madrid had to hold back the central defender.
Shortly after the incident, Rüdiger was repentant. On social media, he wrote that there is definitely no excuse “for his behavior. “I am very sorry about that.” Despite his insight, voices became sound that demanded a suspension from the national team-including ex-European champion Dietmar Hamann.
Rüdiger could expect a tough punishment in Spain. To throw an object on a referee, the rules block between four and twelve games.