An international ban has now been imposed on Cristiano Ronaldo.
The European Championship qualifier between Portugal and Luxembourg on Monday will be missed by the player.
This is because of the careless challenge made against Slovakia on Friday night when Portugal triumphed 1-0.
most neutrals tend to think Cristiano Ronaldo had a really good chance to score but blew it by making the stud’s first reckless lunge.
But he did receive a yellow card—his third in five group stage matches for the Euros—and is now sidelined for tonight’s play against Luxembourg.
Due to Cristiano Ronaldo’s careless challenge, Martin Dubravka was fortunate to avoid suffering major injuries (see below).
Dubravka was thankfully allowed to continue after extensive treatment.
Now that the Newcastle United goalkeeper has spoken to the media about the event, I believe he was quite forgiving of Cristiano Ronaldo’s lunge. Dubraka inquired as to how the Portugal player came to make contact:
“In the shoulder, the neck and the chest.
“I just closed my eyes and prayed that Cristiano Ronaldo wouldn’t hit me in the face as well.
When I saw his studs coming at me, I didn’t even look.
“These are situations when the goalkeeper closes his eyes and tries only to block the shot.
“And he as a striker, has to go after such a ball.
“I don’t blame him.
“It’s sport, it’s football.
“Situations like this belong to it.
“Of course, he realised he hit me.
“He asked me if I was OK. I take it sportingly.
“I try to keep a clear head in these situations.
“It is a contact sport.
“Today, when we have VAR at our disposal, there is no point in getting into it.”
There are times when a striker can legitimately be claimed to have had to go for the ball, as Martin Dubraka points out. This was not one of them, though. By the time he lunged studs first, Cristiano Ronaldo had no chance of gaining possession of the ball, and it was pure luck that prevented him from making even the slightest contact with Dubravka’s face.
Martin Dubravka is still performing well for Slovakia, despite the fact that he continues to battle for playing time at Newcastle.
In his last nine international games, he has kept seven clean sheets. He played on Friday night. Another outstanding performance against Portugal, and it was unfortunate to lose.
The NUFC goalkeeper and his international teammates face a crucial match against Liechtenstein on Monday night at home. Liechtenstein is now last in the group with no points.
Slovakia is in second place in the group, five points behind Portugal, with 10 points, one point ahead of Luxembourg on goal differential.
Contrary to popular belief, Slovakia would have benefited from Cristiano Ronaldo playing tonight. With four games remaining, Slovakia would be three points ahead of Luxembourg in second place if Portugal and Dubravka’s team both won. The top two finishers in each group advance automatically to the finals in Germany in the coming summer.
