After losing the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal match 3-0, Madrid had it all to do in the rematch at the Santiago Bernabeu. The task was made even more difficult when Bukayo Saka scored to extend the Gunners’ lead to 4-0. Vinicius Jr. immediately responded to give Madrid some hope, but it’s hard to imagine they’d have any chance at all if Rudiger had received his marking orders as many fans believe he should. Antonio Rudiger can consider himself lucky after he avoided any kind of punishment despite appearing to stamp on Myles Lewis-Skelly in the second half of Los Blancos’ Champions League match against Arsenal.
Rudiger Appeared to Stamp on Lewis-Skelly
Fans are outraged on social media
Rudiger and Lewis-Skelly collided during the second half, and the Arsenal player went down before either team had scored. Then, as he ran over the child, replays revealed that the former Chelsea player seemed to stamp on his tummy. Fans were eager to express their indignation online after seeing how violent it appeared.
“Rudiger is genuinely the most disgusting player,” one fan wrote on X (Twitter), while another fan asked, “Is this football or UFC?” after he wasn’t even sure if he was watching the correct sport.
“This is so bad,” wrote a third supporter, while a fourth posted, “How do they get away with this?” indicating that they were not overly shocked to see a Real Madrid player get away with anything similar.
A fifth admirer finally got right to the issue and denounced Rudiger’s actions as “disgraceful.”
With the German still playing, there was a risk that the event may come back to harm Arsenal, given Madrid was still chasing a three-goal lead at the moment. Rather, Mikel Arteta’s team took the initiative with a bold Saka chip. After missing a penalty earlier in the evening with a humiliating Panenka attempt, the forward made amends. Almost immediately after, Vinicius Jr. took advantage of a mistake made by William Saliba to pull them even, but with the final score at 4-1, Carlo Ancelotti’s team must do the impossible if they hope to qualify.
