Arizona Tribune - Real Madrid's Rudiger tried to 'smash my face in': Getafe's Rico

There was an incident involving the two defenders in the first half of the match visitors Getafe won 1-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu on Monday

Germany centre-back Rudiger hit Rico in the head with his knee to the anger of Getafe's players.

"I think in these situations, an act of aggression, you can tell he's going for me on purpose," Rico told Spanish radio station Cadena Cope.

"In the previous action (between us) the referee called for a foul and on his way back to defend he was saying things.

"Then on the very next play the ball came to me and you can see how he practically moved his team-mate out of the way just to smash my face in.

"If he had caught me wrong he could have left me there, flat on the pitch."

Rico was able to carry on playing after the incident.

The left-back said that if he had committed the same offence he would have been "banned for 10 games" and not played the rest of the season.

Madrid's defeat, their second in a row in La Liga, left them four points behind leaders Barcelona.

Former Chelsea and Roma defender Rudiger, who turned 33 on Tuesday, was given a six-match ban last season after throwing an object at a referee during Madrid's Copa del Rey final defeat by Barcelona.

M.O.Allen--AT