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Antonio Rüdiger (on March 23rd)

Photo: Christian Charisius / dpa

Things are currently going well for Antonio Rüdiger in terms of sport. The DFB team achieved two victories within a few days against France and the Netherlands in preparation for the European Championship. Off the pitch, however, the excitement surrounding the national soccer player doesn't really subside.

After his much-discussed Instagram post at the beginning of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, Rüdiger has now "decisively distanced himself from any kind of extremism and the accusations of Islamism." He doesn't allow himself to be "denigrated as an Islamist" and is therefore taking legal action against it: "This is about propaganda and division; I will always resolutely defend myself against this.”

The "Bild" newspaper published a comprehensive statement from the Real Madrid professional on Wednesday evening, who commented for the first time on the photo that he had already published on his account on March 11th.

In the post, the practicing Muslim posted a photo of himself in a white robe on a prayer mat. The index finger of his right hand points to the sky. “May the Almighty accept our fasting and our prayers,” wrote Rüdiger as a greeting to Ramadan.

Now he explained in writing: “The gesture I used is the so-called tawheed finger. In Islam, this is considered a symbol of the unity and uniqueness of God. The gesture is widespread among Muslims all over the world and has only been classified as unproblematic by the Federal Ministry of the Interior in the last few days.

In the past few days, the photo had been “used by individuals to make unfounded accusations,” the professional wrote. He was probably also referring to the journalist Julian Reichelt, the former editor-in-chief of Germany's largest tabloid "Bild".

Complaint against former “Bild” boss

In the opinion of Reichelt, who now works for the right-wing populist portal Nius, Rüdiger made an Islamist gesture by raising his index finger. Reichelt's criticism led to Rüdiger filing a criminal complaint against him with the Berlin public prosecutor's office, and the German Football Association (DFB) also reported the matter to the Central Office for Combating Internet Crime (ZIT) of the Frankfurt am Main Public Prosecutor's Office. Reichelt accused Rüdiger and the DFB of “intimidation methods”.

»Violence and terrorism are absolutely unacceptable. I stand for peace and tolerance," Rüdiger now wrote: "Respect and tolerance are fundamental principles that we all represent in our family."

But he also recognizes "that due to insufficient attention I gave third parties the chance to deliberately misinterpret my posting in order to divide and polarize," emphasized Rüdiger: "But I will not offer a platform for division and radicalization, so I have I decided to make a clear statement after our two successful international matches.«

jok/dpa