A lot of Chelsea supporters would have been interested in last night’s Champions League quarter-finals.
Chelsea‘s old boss Thomas Tuchel managed to guide Bayern Munich to the semis after knocking out the Blues’ London rivals Arsenal.
Former Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger also had a successful night as his Real Madrid side eliminated another Premier League club, Manchester City, from the competition.
In fact, it was Rudiger himself who delivered the final blow, stepping up to take Real Madrid’s winning spot-kick in their penalty shoot-out against the Champions League holders, which he managed to convert.
Loads of Chelsea supporters took to X during and after the game to hail their former centre-back. “What a player,” one fan said. “Rudiger dunked on them,” another added.
Have Chelsea replaced Antonio Rudiger?
Rudiger left Chelsea on a free transfer back in 2022. Since then, the club have signed Kalidou Koulibaly, Wesley Fofana, Benoit Badiashile and Axel Disasi to strengthen their central defence.
Koulibaly is no longer at Stamford Bridge, while Fofana has not been able to stay fit.
Badiashile has had his own injury problems as well, so it is quite clear to see that no one has really come in and replaced the impact Rudiger used to make.
Disasi has probably come the closest, with the Frenchman being a key player for Chelsea this season. In total, the Frenchman has made 40 appearances under Mauricio Pochettino.
He missed the Blues’ impressive 6-0 win against Everton on Monday but was seen in training yesterday.
Playing alongside Rudiger, that could have been a really strong central defensive partnership at Chelsea.
Supporters would have loved for the Germany international to have stayed and go on and make more appearances for the club. But Rudiger will feel that he did what he had to do and will certainly have no regrets now as Real Madrid chase down yet another Champions League trophy.