The German defender set off to score the victorious goal for the Merengues, thus ensuring their qualification for the quarterfinals.
Ancelotti and his staff aligned Kylian Mbappé, Jude Bellingham, Fede Valverde and Lucas Vazquez for their first four penalties at the Metropolitano, his own having been arrested by Jan Oblak. The choice arose between Endrick Felipe and Rüdiger to shoot what was promising to be a decisive penalty.
“” We hesitated to choose Endrick or Rüdiger. Then I looked at Endrick's face and I said to myself: “Better Rüdiger” “Ancelotti told Marca on Wednesday evening.
The Italian coach also said that he did not bring Vinicius Junior on Wednesday evening to prevent him from drawing a second penalty, after having missed one during regulation time. The Brazilian superstar was replaced by Endrick in the 115th minute, just five minutes before the penalty shootout. Ancelotti was invited to specify if Endrick had initially been brought into play specifically to draw a penalty.
Rudiger instead of Endrick
” No. He came into play because Vinicius was tired, exhausted, and we wanted a fresh player, nothing else. »»
Before the match, Ancelotti had long exposed his theory on penalties, adding that it was not a question of experience or technique to determine who he preferred to draw the penalties, but rather to know who felt confident to shoot them.
Ancelotti of course underwent the undoubtedly the most stinging defeat in the history of penalties, after his AC Milan saw his advance of three goals escape him against Liverpool in the final of the 2005 Champions League, before Jerzy Dudek became the hero of the Reds.
