Xabi Alonso Defends Rüdiger's Racist Abuse Claims Amidst Club World Cup War of Words

Antonio Rudiger and Gustavo Cabral argue late in the game // AOL

Real Madrid manager Xabi Alonso has come out strongly in support of Antonio Rüdiger, who asserted that he was racially abused while playing for Real Madrid during their FIFA Club World Cup match against Mexico's Pachuca. The abuse is said to have occurred late in the game at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina, as Real Madrid earned their first victory in the competition in a 3-1 victory.

Temper flared on the pitch when Rüdiger and Pachuca's veteran defender Gustavo Cabral engaged in a fiery exchange. The two players locked eyes in a confrontation that led to Rüdiger dashing to match referee Ramon Abatti, gesturing and pointing towards Cabral as he aired his complaint. Correspondingly, the referee signaled FIFA's anti-racism protocol by folding his arms — the official gesture that a complaint of racist abuse had been lodged, under FIFA's three-step process for incidents of this nature.

The match was finished mere minutes after the scrap, but the scandal ran over into the post-game conversation. During the press conference, Alonso affirmed that Rüdiger had complained of being racially abused by Cabral during their on-field altercation.

"We fully support Toni [Rüdiger] and these allegations are serious. The FIFA protocol was triggered and an official investigation is underway. It's not tolerable and we trust him," Alonso asserted firmly.

But there was another version given by Gustavo Cabral when questioned by reporters. The 39-year-old Argentine center-back denied racist intent, explaining that the exchange was a typical Argentine insult that carried no racial connotation.

"It was a bit of rubbish," explained Cabral. "We collided, he thought that I had struck him in the face and we fought. The referee showed the gesture of racism but there was nothing of that sort. I used a word that is commonly used in Argentina — 'c*n de m**a' — an insult for coward, but not racial. That is all. It got heated later on because we ran our mouths on the way to the dressing rooms, but there was no racism involved."

Antonio Rudiger (left) and Gustavo Cabral (right) during the Real Madrid vs. Pachuca game at the FIFA Club World Cup // CNN

Pachuca head coach Jaime Lozano expressed surprise over the matter, stating he was unaware of any serious incident at the time and had not discussed it with Cabral in the locker room.

“We talked only about the match,” Lozano said. “I wasn’t aware of this until the press mentioned it. I’ll speak to Cabral, but knowing him and this squad, nothing like this has happened before to my knowledge.”

This instalment follows a troubling pattern in Rüdiger's career, with the German international having previously suffered racist abuse. Curiously, this occurred at Chelsea in 2019 and then at Real Madrid in 2023. In a candid essay he wrote for The Players' Tribune in 2021, Rüdiger was candid in his frustration over football not being able to address racism in any meaningful sense at all, describing antidiscrimination efforts as performative and not revolutionary.

"In football, there's always a campaign, a hashtag, a moment of outrage — and then nothing changes," Rüdiger wrote. "The Super League plan was blocked in 48 hours because the whole world reacted. But with racism, the reaction is always complicated or slow. Maybe because it cuts deeper than the fans — maybe it's in the system."

As FIFA's investigation continues, the football community sits up and takes notice once more to see if the words can be transformed into actions — or if, as Rüdiger fears, the tournament vanishes in the emptiness of others' silence.

THEUNCOMMONBREED