Cristiano Ronaldo has insisted he did not intend to hurt Patrick Mtiliga after being sent off for elbowing the Malaga defender.
The Portuguese star had scored both of his side's goals in their 2-0 victory on Sunday before his evening took a turn for the worse on 70 minutes.
Ronaldo was shown a straight red card following the incident which left Mtiliga with a broken nose but he does not believe the punishment was fair.
While he is sorry that his opponent suffered an injury, Ronaldo maintains that it was not a deliberate attack and he should not have been dismissed.
"It was not my intention to injure Mtiliga. I'm very sad for what happened but calm," said the 24-year-old, who was also sent off against Almeria in December.
"Those who understand football know that my intention is always to play the ball. I learned in England not to deceive the referees.
"This is not a red card here or anywhere in the world and I'm not asking for protection. I've seen worse things in other games.
"I didn't mean to injure the lad. It was bad luck to hit him on the nose because he's only 1.70m and if he had been taller I would have struck his chest."
Ronaldo, who will now miss the clash with Deportivo La Coruna next week, has already spoken to Mtiliga.
"I always want to play and these things make me angry. I've spoken with Mtiliga and he told me that I didn't need to apologise because he doesn't believe I hurt him intentionally," he added.
"I wouldn't want to injure anybody. I'm not that type of person. I'm not a bad person. I only want to shine by playing football.
"Now I'm going to be angry when I get home because I won't be able to play through suspension."
PellegriniReal boss Manuel Pellegrini admits he did not get a good view of the incident, saying: "I couldn't see it. He had a great game, scoring two goals, but unfortunately he was mixed up in that incident that got him sent off."
Despite the victory which keeps Real in touch with leaders Barcelona, Pellegrini was less than pleased with his side's performance.
"I'm not happy with how we played. We were too individualistic at times against a good team that had not lost in nine games," he said.
"We scored two good goals but it's not been a game that I liked.
"We've had a perfect home run in the first half of the season. We know we can improve and in order to do that we must take it game by game."
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