Lots of people took to social media to question what the white lawn chair in the midst of the celebrations was all about.
Wednesday night’s Champions League semi-final second leg was one of the most thrilling ends to a European game in a long time, as Real Madrid stole the lead from Bayern Munich in the final ten minutes to progress to next month’s final at Wembley.
Despite being 1-0 down heading into the final minutes of the second leg, Los Blancos once again produced a memorable comeback as former Newcastle and Stoke City striker Joselu netted a quickfire brace to turn the Spanish giants’ fortunes around.
The winning goal was subject to an offside check, and further controversy hit Madrid’s victory as a late decision by the linesman denied the Bayern the chance to equalise.
He couldn’t do it on a cold, rainy night in Stoke but you bet your bottom dollar he can do it on a warm night in Madrid pic.twitter.com/fnHY0jGVSx
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) May 8, 2024
The likes of Jude Bellingham, Vinicius Jr and super substitute Joselu were seen diving into the Santiago Bernabeu crowd as Szymon Marciniak blew the full-time whistle.
A strange sight in the midst of the celebrations was a white lawn chair being held aloft by both Antonio Rudiger and David Alaba. It’s not the first time Madrid players have dragged a white chair onto the pitch, and it led to a barrage of questions on Twitter as to what the random piece of furniture was all about.
Rudiger was seen bringing a white chair onto the field and running straight to Alaba.
The ever-chaotic German then encouraged his fellow defender to lift the seat in front of the crowd, who loved every minute of it.
This isn’t the first time the Austrian has pulled out a chair while celebrating a big success. The first time this was seen was after Real Madrid’s comeback victory over Paris Saint-Germain en route to winning the 2021-22 Champions League title He would then bring out his now trademark celebration after the Spanish giants defeated Liverpool in the final of the competition that year.
After the game, German defender Rudiger told CBS Sports Golazo pundit and former Champions League winner Alessandro Del Piero the reason behind the chair.
The 31-year-old explained that his teammate Alaba came up with the odd celebration in the 2021-2022 season, when the club lifted a record 35th La Liga trophy.
Considering David Alaba has been out injured for much of this season and has been ruled out of a place in the team for the final against Borussia Dortmund, Rudiger took the moment as an opportunity to bring back the celebration as a tribute to Alaba and to make him feel more involved in Wednesday’s historic win.
“That was for David Alaba because he’s an important piece of the team."
— CBS Sports Golazo
Antonio Rüdiger brought back the chair celebration as a tribute to Alabapic.twitter.com/Uf0Mvz141d
(@CBSSportsGolazo) May 8, 2024
The ex-Chelsea centre-back explained: “That was for David Alaba because he is an important part of the team. I think the chair had to be brought up again for the fans to cheer him up and everyone is important.”
Alaba is likely to break out the chair celebration if his team are to lift the biggest continental prize in Europe. However, a young and hungry Dortmund side stands between the men in the famous white kit and a historic 15th Champions League trophy. For the versatile defender, it would be a fourth winners’ medal after he previously won the showpiece tournament twice for Bayern Munich and once for Real Madrid.
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