Rudiger: Chelsea ‘had to punish’ Leicester after ‘disrespect’

Will Ford
Rudiger Chelsea

Antonio Rudiger admits Chelsea had extra motivation to “punish” Leicester” after Daniel Amartey’s show of “disrespect” after Leicester’s FA Cup final win.

The Blues dominated the Foxes to win 2-1 at Stamford Bridge through goals from Rudiger and Jorginho, to give them the edge in the top-four race.

A win at Aston Villa on Sunday will guarantee Chelsea’s place in the Champions League next season.

The victory avenged the Blues’ defeat to Leicester in the cup final on Saturday, with a video showing Amartey throwing a pennant presented to the Foxes by Chelsea on the floor of the dressing room at Wembley not going unnoticed Rudiger and his teammates, who were keen to “punish” them.

“Unfortunately, some people of them don’t know how to celebrate. We had to punish them, 100%,” Rudiger told Chelsea’s 5th Stand app.

“Some people from them gave us a bit more motivation from Saturday. Congratulations to them, they won and everything. Celebrate and everything but don’t disrespect club history. This is a bit bigger than you.”

Amartey was also involved in the late brawl on the touchline at Stamford Bridge and was shown a yellow card. Thiago Silva, Cesar Azpilicueta and Mason Mount all clashed with the Ghana international, who was an unused substitute for Leicester.

Thomas Tuchel admitted after the game he had not used the incident to spur on his Chelsea players, but did accept his squad were very aware of the video.

He said: “I did not talk about it. I know there was an incident but I didn’t talk about it before the match or in any meetings, I don’t do this but I think the players were well aware.

“I’m not into these things too much because it can sometimes give you too much energy, too much a feeling for revenge. I don’t like this at all

“We prepared for a super important match and did what we do, how we play football. We wanted to do it at the highest level possible and this is what we did.

“We needed the intensity and hunger that make us a difficult team to play. There’s nothing more I can say about it.”

 

News Antonio Rüdiger