The tackle prompted extensive debate in the Spanish media. Former referee Alfonso Perrez Burrull told Radio Marca the incident “should have been reviewed by VAR, because in my view the Real Madrid defender should have been sent off.”
Journalist Dani Carrido on Cadena SER was more explicit: “Rüdiger could have broken his jaw on the spot,” he said. Juanma Castano of Cadena COPE went further, labelling it “one of the most brutal fouls we have ever seen”.
Only the Spanish sports newspaper Mundo Deportivo called for leniency, arguing that “the German got away with a challenge that deserved a yellow card.”
Rüdiger later insisted there was no malice in the challenge. “It looks horrific in slow motion,” he said, “but I didn’t kill him. If I’d gone in deliberately, I’d have hurt him. That was never my intention—I just play hard.”
