Antonio Rudiger hits back at former BILD editor who linked him with terrorists

Antonio Rudiger has broken his silence after the Germany star was accused of supporting terrorism.

Earlier this month, Rudiger, a devout Muslim, posted a photo on Instagram of himself in a white robe on a prayer mat pointing the index finger of his right hand towards the sky.

The Real Madrid defender accompanied the post from March 13 with the caption: 'Ramadan Mubarak to all Muslims around the world. May the almighty accept our fasting and prayers #AlwaysBelieve.'

However, on Sunday, former BILD editor Julian Reichelt hit out at Rudiger and accused him of links to terrorism.

He posted on X: 'For everyone who doesn't want to recognise Antonio Rudiger's Islamist greeting as an Islamist greeting: the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution calls this gesture the 'IS finger' and sees the index finger as a clear sign of Islamism.'

Rudiger and the German Football Association (DFB) have since announced they are taking legal action against Reichelt following his shocking claims.

And on Wednesday evening, Rudiger - who featured in Germany's victories against France and the Netherlands over the past week - spoke for the first time on the saga, hitting back at the 'unfounded accusations'.

'To mark the beginning of Lent, I published a post on Instagram,' he told BILD. 'This has already been publicly viewable for 13 days (since March 11) and has reached several million followers without any criticism from anyone.

'But in recent days the photo has been used by individuals to make unfounded accusations.

'The gesture I used is called the 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