Antonio Rudiger's defending and ability on the ball has been on full display

These observations — where I look at Real Madrid’s history, its players on loan, Castilla, tactical tidbits, and other relevant thoughts — are now a regular thing. All previous editions can be found here. He is not the main story of Real Madrid’s season, nor was he the protagonist against Elche. But Antonio Rudiger, currently 10th in the team in minutes played, has quietly put in a really impressive campaign. Rudiger, boasting the sixth best passing completion % in La Liga, has begun showing his elite passing range that made him so good on the ball at Chelsea: It’s not hard to see why Rudiger has fit seamlessly. He is a home-run signing on a free-transfer without any real weaknesses, making him malleable and easy to integrate. If you pair him with Eder Militao, you have elite aerial ability and great step-up interventions throughout the backline. Pair him with David Alaba and you’ll get world class ball progression. In the unexpectedly good Rudiger – Nacho partnership, you get leadership, good tracking, and valuable rest to the aforementioned starting defenders. Rudiger can do everything well, and works in any backline combination. I don’t think we’ve truly seen how important Rudiger is…
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