Real Madrid mainstay has taken up a leadership role, loved by all at the club | OneFootball

Antonio Rudiger arrived at Real Madrid for the 2022-23 season and spent the year largely as the manager’s third-choice centre-back after David Alaba and Eder Militao.

Fast forward two years and the German defender is Real Madrid’s most consistent, reliable and best-performing member of the backline whose presence on the field is unmissable.

The journey and evolution of Rudiger at the Spanish capital is thus inspiring, to say the least, and the club staff see him as one who has taken up a significant weight of the leadership on his shoulders.

A figure loved by all

As relayed in a recent update by MARCA, Rudiger is loved by one and all at the club, both inside and outside of the Real Madrid dressing room.

Many see him to have taken on a new role this year as he currently serves as the leader in defence. After covering for Eder Militao’s absence last season with great responsibility, he now teams up alongside the Brazilian star.

Rudiger is a leader in the Real Madrid squad. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)

Last season, Rudiger was the player who played the second most minutes for Real Madrid at 4080, only behind Federico Valverde who recorded 4280 minutes.

The new campaign has been no different as the same duo are part of a set of just four players to have played all 450 minutes so far, the other two players being Thibaut Courtois and Eder Militao.

While it is impressive enough that the German centre-half has delivered consistently and led in defence day in and day out, the fact that he is rolling out such numbers at 31 years of age only makes his statistics further jaw-dropping.

As club football returns after the first international break, Rudiger will look to return to the field rested and raring to go once more. His quality, after all, will be a major determinant of the team’s success.