Chelsea and Germany star Antonio Rudiger has sent a warning to Kylian Mbappe and his France teammates ahead of Tuesday’s mouth-watering clash.
France and Germany will go head-to-head on Monday night in their first Euro 2020 outings, and getting off to a good start will be vital in what is being referred as the ‘group of death’.
The two teams find themselves in a group with current holders Portugal and the potentially tricky Hungary, and only a maximum of three can progress, though that could become two depending on the bar set by other third-place teams across the competition.
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World Cup-winners France are most people’s favourites to win the competition, armed with one of the world’s best players in PSG star Kylian Mbappe, who had a starring role in their most recent success back in 2018.
But while Germany are well aware of the frontman’s threat, they are not living in fear, with one of Chelsea’s Champions League winners Rudiger discussing his plan to be “a little dirty” when it comes to dealing with Mbappe and the other attacking players in Didier Deschamps’ side.
“Of course, they have good forwards, we have to be ready to win the one-on-one challenges,” he said in a press conference, as quoted by the Daily Mirror. “We have to be a little dirty, not always be nice or try to play nice football.
“Against players like them, you have to throw down a marker.”
Rudiger was instrumental in Chelsea’s Champions League campaign, and indeed their efforts to finish fourth despite a slow first half of the season in the Premier League.
He will now be looking to help his national side return to their best after they finished bottom of their group during the last World Cup, as well as recently conceding six against Spain in a Nations League fixture.