Real Madrid defender, Antonio Rudiger, has hit back at Gatafe left-back, Diego Rico, following the Spaniard’s reaction after the German fouled him.
He said the Spanish defender had exaggerated the incident.
Rico had hit out at the Germany International after Getafe were beaten 4-1 at the weekend, saying the Real Madrid defender wanted to hurt to him badly.
Reacting ahead of their Champions League game against Manchester City at the Etihad on Tuesday, Rudiger said Rico would not have been able to stand on his feet again if he wanted to hurt him.
“Yeah, at the end of the day, you see the images with slow motion. Of course, it looks terrible. I don’t take nothing away from it. But in the action itself, I think, and also what the player said, like, I don’t take nothing away from him.
“But as the player said that he was like, I almost killed him, or something like this, I think he doesn’t need to exaggerate, because, if I had the intention to do that, he wouldn’t have[been able] to stand up. I don’t justify it.
“But the way he spoke after the game is like I killed him.
“And sometimes pictures in the VAR they look a bit, yeah, very horrible, and everything. And yes, so, why didn’t I get sent off?
“So at the end of the day, it was never my intention to do purpose on him. Like we all know I’m a player, I like to be tough on the pitch and everything. But still, I have boundaries. I’m a human being.
“So that’s why I’m thinking the boy exaggerated a bit because they want everything and this and that, and maybe needs to be the star or something, you know.
“But because you need to be careful with words. If you say I almost killed [you] and everything, this and that, because we see what happens in the world. So we have to keep it a bit low.”