Antonio Rudiger has become one of the best center-backs in the world in the past year. The steady German star played great for Real Madrid last season and helped them win both La Liga and the Champions League.

Euro 2024 was just a small part of Rudiger’s 2023–24 season. He wanted to help Germany win the game at home, but Spain beat them in the quarterfinals and went on to win the whole thing.

Rudiger played well at Euro 2024, but he could have missed the whole thing. Bild (via Diario AS) says he thought about leaving the German national team after getting negative feedback on a social media post in which he celebrated Ramadan Mubarak.

The story says that Germany’s head coach Julian Nagelsmann was able to talk Rudiger out of retiring from international football too soon. Real Madrid probably felt let down when he decided to stay because they would rather not have any of their players called up for international duty because of their busy schedule.