Antonio Rudiger has selected a Manchester City player as his best friend in football.

The centre-back recently played against the Manchester club in a 3-3 draw between Real Madrid and Pep Guardiola’s team.

Ahead of the game, the German international revealed details about his strong friendship with one of City’s current squad players.

Rudiger names Manchester City player as his best friend in football.

In a recent quick fire Q&A on the official Real Madrid TikTok channel, Rudiger selected Mateo Kovacic as his best football friend.

City paid £30 million to recruit the midfielder from Premier League rivals Chelsea during the previous summer transfer window.

Since then, the Croatian, who earns £150,000 per week, has made 37 appearances for the Citizens in all competitions, scoring two goals and providing one assist.

Rudiger knows Mateo Kovacic extremely well

Rudiger joined Real Madrid as a free agent in the summer of 2022, having previously played 203 games for Chelsea.

From 2018/19 to 2021/22, the two played 118 games together across all competitions at the west London club.

Even though both Rudiger and Kovacic have moved on from Chelsea to other clubs in different countries, it’s encouraging to know that Rudiger still considers Kovacic to be his best football friend.

Moving forward, City and Real will face off again for a place in the Champions League semi-finals next week, with the second leg tie starting at the Etihad Stadium.

Looking ahead to the big game for both sides, it’ll be intriguing to see whether the two meet again and if their friendship is put on wait for another 90 minutes.