Rico later insinuated “intention” and complained that Rüdiger wanted to “smash his face.” Boarding had no health consequences for Rico, pure luck. The fact that Rüdiger also escaped without consequences, at least for the time being: almost outrageous luck.

However, it cannot stay that way. Because the measure is full.

Nagelsmann 2025 about Rüdiger: “Limit reached, red line defined”

Rüdiger is actually considered a seeded World Cup candidate, but if national coach Julian Nagelsmann is consistent – and remembers his own words – then he will have to throw the 33-year-old out of the squad.

In the summer of 2025, Nagelsmann said these sentences:

“He knows my opinion that the limit has been reached. He also knows that this can’t happen anymore, otherwise it will have greater consequences. He knows that he doesn’t have a free pass and doesn’t have a second or third attempt to do something like that. The red line is defined. We have a certain role model effect as a national team.”

Even back then, Rüdiger, who, according to Nagelsmann, was a “super fine person,” had attracted negative attention several times. In the Spanish Cup final, he threw a tape bandage at the referee and verbal insults. Sanction: six-game ban.

Shortly before, Rüdiger had shown the so-called head-down gesture towards the fans of Real’s city rivals Atlético. Sanction: one game suspension plus a fine of 40,000 euros. Also unforgettable is how he mocked the Japanese in the running duel at the 2022 World Cup.

Rüdiger doesn’t meet Nagelsmann’s demands, so he can’t go to the World Cup

In 2025, Nagelsmann packaged his decisive Rüdiger demand into a moderate-sounding inventory: “The things that he sometimes does and that were rightly punished, of course they don’t work. I assume that he will get it under control.”