Gerónimo Rulli warns Carvajal over action in Villarreal game

Honors were even between Villarreal and Real Madrid in yesterday’s La Liga match-up, but both sides had their fair share of poor tackles. There was one incident, early in the first half, that saw Dani Carvajal kick a ball off the head of Lo Celso, who was down on the ground from a prior sequence of play and was not aware of the game going on around him. Marco Asensio managed to pick up the ball in the next phase of play and kicked it out of play. Lo Celso ended up being fine, but the Villarreal players were furious with Carvajal who was later apologetic. In an interview with Spanish radio program, Carrusel Deportivo, Geronimo Rulli warned Carvajal regarding his “pelotazo”.

“What Carvajal did was bad, he was wrong and we told him so. Hopefully in the future, he reconsiders such an action. Nothing happened today. but a ball to the face, from so close with that power, could end up in something far worse,” the goalkeeper explained.

A younger and more impulsive Carvajal may have been stubborn over the action and refused to apologize. But, now at the age of 30 and with a new-born at home, Carvajal appeared to recognize his action immediately after and went to apologize to Lo Celso. In the rules of the game, there is nothing wrong with what Carvajal did — looking to clear the ball out from a dangerous situation — but, he will likely reconsider his options (decisions that have to be taken in milliseconds) before slamming the ball against another player’s head.