Antonio Rudiger apologizes after cleating France's Benjamin Pavard

Sept. 7 (UPI) -- Germany's Antonio Rudiger has apologized to France's Benjamin Pavard after he cleated the defender in the neck.

The incident occurred during a Nations League matchup between the national teams on Thursday in Munich, Germany. Germany and France finished the game with a 0-0 draw. Pavard took the ball away from Rudiger with a clean slide tackle near the corner. After the ball went out of bounds, Rudiger placed his left cleat near Pavard's neck, where it appeared to get stuck momentarily. The cleats scraped up Pavard, who briefly stayed on the ground in pain.

After the game, Pavard refused to criticize Rudiger for his actions.

"[My neck] is really painful, but it's part of football," Pavard told reporters. "Honestly I don't know if he did it intentionally. I haven't seen the replay yet. All I can say is that it's part of football."

Rudiger confirmed that the incident wasn't intentional in his apology.

"Sorry for [what happened to] Benjamin Pavard, it wasn't intentional," Rudiger tweeted Friday. "I have apologized to him right after it happened and I also want to use this opportunity to wish him a speedy recovery!"