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Outgoing Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger has opened up on a heartwarming gesture from club fans after their 6-0 drubbing at the hands of Manchester City in 2019.
The German is all set to join Real Madrid this summer, drawing curtains on a five-year long stint at Stamford Bridge. He took a trip down the memory lane in his column for The Players' Tribune.
He particularly looks back on a lovely gesture from Chelsea fans just after their humiliating loss at the Etihad to the Sky Blues during a Premier League clash in February 2019.
After full-time, Rudiger apparently walked towards the away crowd to issue an apology for their appalling performance, but was instead left dumbfounded to see them all cheering him on.
He wrote:
"I want to leave you with a final memory that is bittersweet. Sometimes the things that have the most impact on you are not all good, or all bad. For me, this memory is simply Chelsea."
"It happened in 2019, after City smashed us 6–0 at the Etihad. To be honest, they murdered us. It was embarrassing. After the final whistle, I walked over to the traveling Chelsea fans to raise my hands and apologize. As I walked over, I expected them to boo. But they were all on their feet clapping. Even in such a bad moment, they had our back."
He further recalled that one angry fan pelted expletives at him, but the rest of the bunch around him severely reprimanded the solitary man, before the cheers grew louder.
Rudiger added:
"I was shocked. I put my hands up, like, Sorry, sorry, sorry."
"As I got closer, this one guy in the crowd started shouting abuse at me. He was maybe five meters away, looking me right in the eyes. Listen, I have heard abuse all my life, but this was different. It was really personal. I shouted to him, “Hey, if you want to talk, then come down here and we can have a conversation.”
"Of course, he didn’t even take one step. Immediately, he stopped shouting. And what was remarkable to me was that all the fans around him turned to him and said, “Hey, what are you doing? He’s coming here to apologize. What’s wrong with you?”
He said that's one memory he will remember for the rest of his life.
"The fans — the real fans — started cheering for me even louder. “Rudi! Rudi! Rudi!” That was really powerful. We had lost 6-nil, but all these people were still standing up to the hatred of this one idiot."
“Come on, Rudi! Come on, mate!!!” It was so overwhelming that even the idiot started clapping, too. The other fans literally made him clap and apologize to me. I will never forget that. Never."
Chelsea star set for farewell on Sunday
Rudiger will make his final Chelsea appearance on Sunday in a home match against Watford, their last Premier League fixture of the season.
The German centre-back will leave with 203 appearances and five trophies to his name.
