Chelsea defender, Antonio Rudiger has taken to Twitter to apologize for the injury he inflicted on Manchester City midfielder, Kevin de Bruyne, during the UEFA Champions League final on Saturday, May 29.
On the said date, Manchester City were fighting hard to equalize the 42nd-minute goal Kai Havertz scored for Chelsea in the first half of the game. Unfortunately for Man City, the club’s attacking midfielder who played as a false 9 in the game got injured in the 56th minute.
During the match, Kevin de Bruyne was doing everything possible to get his team back into the game. He was about to make a run with the ball towards Chelsea’s defense line when Antonio Rudiger stood on his way to cause a collision.
Antonio Rudiger and de Bruyne went down for minutes holding their heads as medical teams attended to them on the pitch. The center-referee helped Rudiger up before he showed him a yellow card.
While the medical team attending to the 29-year-old Belgian attacking midfielder helped him up and out of the pitch. At this point, de Bruyne was crying either due to the pain of the injury or the pain that he might no longer be available to help his team in the remaining minutes of the final.
In the 59th minute of the game, the coach of Manchester City, Pep Guardiola replaced the injured Manchester City captain with Gabriel Jesus while the 28-year-old German and Chelsea center-back continued with the game.
At the end of 97 minutes of football, Chelsea defeated Manchester City, 1-0 to win the UEFA Champions League title for the second time in the history of the club.
During the post-match interview, Pep Guardiola could not determine how severe the injury to De Bruyne was. Afterward, the attacking midfielder took to Twitter to reveal that he was back from the hospital.
In his tweet, the Belgium international revealed that he sustained acute nose bone fracture and left orbital fracture from the collision between him and Antonio Rudiger.
He wrote: “Hi guys just got back from the hospital. My diagnosis is Acute nose bone fracture and left orbital fracture. I feel okay now. Still disappointed about yesterday obviously but we will be back.”
Hi guys just got back from the hospital. My diagnosis is Acute nose bone fracture and left orbital fracture. I feel okay now. Still disappointed about yesterday obviously but we will be back
— Kevin De Bruyne (@DeBruyneKev) May 30, 2021
Though the match is over and the Champions League title has been given to Chelsea, most fans of Manchester City have not forgiven Antonio Rudiger. They believe that the German international injured the attacking midfielder intentionally so that Chelsea could have an easier ride in the game.
Hence, Antonio Rudiger had to take to Twitter to reveal that he has spoken to De Bruyne and that he didn’t injure the midfielder intentionally contrary to the criticism against him.
“I’m really sorry for @DeBruyneKev’s injury”, he tweeted. “Of course this was not intentional from me – I’ve already been in touch with Kevin personally and I really wish him a speedy recovery & hope we can see him back on the pitch very soon again.”
I'm really sorry for @DeBruyneKev's injury. Of course this was not intentional from me – I've already been in touch with Kevin personally and I really wish him a speedy recovery & hope we can see him back on the pitch very soon again ✊🏾⚽ #UCLFinal
— Antonio Rüdiger (@ToniRuediger) May 30, 2021
