Germany duo Antonio Rudiger and Niclas Fullkrug are reportedly involved in a training-ground confrontation ahead of Friday’s Euro 2024 opener against Scotland.
Two Germany players were allegedly involved in a heated training-ground exchange in front of thousands of supporters ahead of their opening Euro 2024 tie.
As hosts, Julian Nagelsmann‘s team have the honour of opening the continental championships this Friday evening, when Scotland arrive at the Allianz Arena for their first Group A contest.
Despite being knocked out of Euro 2020 in the last 16 and failing to make it out of the group stages of the 2022 World Cup, Die Mannschaft are among the favourites to go all the way on home turf.
It has been 28 years since Germany last conquered the continent, prevailing at Euro 1996 on English soil, but two of Nagelsmann’s stars apparently had to be separated in practice earlier this week.
According to German outlet Bild, Real Madrid defender Antonio Rudiger and Borussia Dortmund striker Niclas Fullkrug – who also faced one another in the Champions League final – were the two players at the heart of the row.
The report alleges that Rudiger and Fullkrug were opponents in a crossing exercise, and the former ‘repeatedly tackled’ his colleague, bringing him to the ground on one occasion.
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Fullkrug ‘storms past Rudiger’ after fracas
While on the turf, Fullkrug allegedly swore at Rudiger and shouted “blow the whistle already” to one of the Germany coaches, before squaring up to Rudiger and pushing his compatriot.
As many as 4,000 fans in attendance at the open training session witnessed the incident, and assistant manager Sandro Wagner reportedly had to step in to prevent the situation from escalating.
A drinks break followed, but both Rudiger and Fullkrug were still furious, the former “applauding mockingly” before going off to do individual running work rather than returning to team training.
Meanwhile, Fullkrug supposedly stomped past Wagner and Rudiger angrily, although the pair – who have been long-time colleagues thanks to their stints together in the youth team – quickly buried the hatchet afterwards.
Both men are pushing to be part of Nagelsmann’s starting lineup for Friday’s fixture, where Rudiger should start in the middle of defence alongside Jonathan Tah, although Fullkrug is facing competition from Kai Havertz for the number nine spot.
Following the clash with Scotland, Germany face Hungary at the MHPArena in Stuttgart on June 19, before rounding off Group A against Switzerland at the Deutsche Bank Park in Frankfurt four days later.