Raul Albiol denies deliberate forearm on Vinicius Junior: 'If I had hit him I would make him bleed'

Villarreal skipper Raul Albiol made light of a coming together with Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior during their 0-0 draw on Saturday, saying that if he had intentionally hit the Brazilian forward with his forearm, he would have drawn blood.

In the first-half of the goalless LaLiga encounter the Brazilian went down clutching his face after being caught by a flailing arm from the former Madrid man.

Replays appeared to show an innocuous coming together, and the Video Assistant Referee agreed with the referee's interpretation of the situation, despite the visitors' protests.

Albiol joked that if he had deliberately struck the 21-year-old, then he would have known about it.

'To be honest I didn't see him coming. If I'd had gone to hit him, believe me, I'd have made him bleed,' Albiol told Movistar.

'Obviously people will talk about a potential penalty, but it wasn't. He ran into my arm and if I'd have gone for him with my elbow, he'd have been leaving the pitch.'

Real coach Carlo Ancelotti agreed with Albiol - whom he previously worked with at Napoli - that the collision was unintentional.

'Vinicius needs to understand that these things can happen,' Ancelotti said after the game.

'It doesn't worry me. He needs to stay focused on the game, he played really well and can't be losing energy on these kind of things.'

It was a fiery game at the Estadio de la Ceramica, with six yellow cards being issued in total - including four in the first half alone.

One of the players booked was Gareth Bale, making his first Real Madrid appearance in nearly six months.

The Welshman had some of the best chances to break the deadlock, hitting the crossbar early in the second half and seeing a couple of efforts saved by Geronimo Rulli.

The goalless draw has left Real Madrid four points clear at the top of LaLiga, while Villarreal are in sixth.