Football
Dermot Corrigan, Madrid correspondent 9y

Juan Rodriguez unapologetic for 'stamp' on Atletico's Mario Mandzukic

Getafe midfielder Juan Rodriguez was unrepentant after admitting he stepped on Mario Mandzukic as the Atletico Madrid striker lay on the ground during his side's 1-0 defeat on Sunday.

Mandzukic scored the winning goal but the Croatia international endured rough treatment throughout the contest.

He was hit in the face off the ball by home centre-back Alexis Ruano -- who was then sent off -- and then stepped on by Rodriguez as he received medical attention, but the Getafe man told Canal Plus that Atletico were also guilty of using such "weapons."

"If it was seen then so what? It was hardly a stamp to break his leg," Rodriguez said. "We were all very heated. There was also a judo move in the area when they scored and nobody pulled them up for it.

"Atletico use these weapons a lot and nobody says anything. This is football -- it is a contact sport. We are not playing board games. Now it looks like we're the hard team because of this, but Atletico are very intense as well, they pull shirts, they push you... and it doesn't seem to matter."

Mandzukic had scored his goal from a corner in the 40th minute and Rodriguez added: "Miranda pushed me, then Mandzukic shoved Alexis and he could have prevented the shot -- but that's football, it happened today and it happened as well against Cordoba, when they disallowed our legitimate goal.

"Now we have to recover and think about the next game. Congratulations to Atletico."

Despite Atletico's reputation, they have received just two straight red cards in 106 La Liga games since Diego Simeone took charge in December 2011.

Nonetheless, the Atletico boss was happy to praise Getafe as they battled for an equaliser despite going down to 10 men in the 56th minute.

"The first half was a good match, controlled, until the sending off, but in the last 30 minutes the courage of Getafe helped them to play a good game," Simeone said. "We stepped off and we suffered."

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