Love bite: German vuilgat Rudiger escapes ban for little ‘nibble’ on France ace Pogba
NOT TAKING THE BYT: Rudiger, left, Pogba and N’Golo Kante
Germany defender Antonio Rudiger escaped punishment after appearing to bite France star Paul Pogba in their Euro 2020 clash on Tuesday night.
Rudiger was caught on camera putting his face close to Pogba’s back before grappling him in the first half of Les Bleus’ 1-0 Group F win, but Uefa will take no action.
The German said before the heavyweight meeting in Munich that they would have to play “a little dirty” and it looked like he had taken his own advice.
But Pogba doesn’t want to “press any charges” after the incident and says: “I’m not crying for cards, yellow, red cards because of such actions.
“He nibbled, I think, a little bit on me. But we have known each other for a long time.
“I told the referee and he takes decisions and he took a decision. It’s over.
“It was a great match for us... and I didn’t want him to be suspended because of such a situation.
“We hugged each other and that’s it.”
Rudiger, meanwhile, explains: “I should not come close with my mouth to his back, no doubt about it.
“It looks unfortunate. Paul and I have talked about it as friends after the final whistle.”
World champions France hardly needed to go through the gears to beat Joachim Low’s lacklustre Germans, with Mats Hummels turning Theo Hernanez’s cross into his own goal in the 20th minute to settle the game.
France also had strikes from attackers Karim Benzema and Kylian Mbappe disallowed.