{"id":290320,"date":"2023-09-11T00:34:57","date_gmt":"2023-09-11T00:34:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports-life-news.com\/?p=290320"},"modified":"2023-09-11T00:34:57","modified_gmt":"2023-09-11T00:34:57","slug":"dubravka-says-he-prayed-ronaldo-would-not-catch-him-in-the-face","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports-life-news.com\/soccer\/dubravka-says-he-prayed-ronaldo-would-not-catch-him-in-the-face\/","title":{"rendered":"Dubravka says he &apos;PRAYED&apos; Ronaldo would not catch him in the face"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Martin Dubravka says he &#8216;closed his eyes and PRAYED&#8217; Cristiano Ronaldo would not catch him in the face before studs-up challenge during Slovakia&#8217;s loss to Portugal &#8211; but insists he &#8216;doesn&#8217;t blame&#8217; the Al-Nassr forward<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Martin Dubravka says he prayed Cristiano Ronaldo wouldn&#8217;t catch him in face\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Ronaldo was booked for a late challenge on Slovakia goalkeeper Dubravka\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The pair were team-mates at Manchester United in the first half of last season\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Martin Dubravka has revealed that he prayed that Cristiano Ronaldo wouldn&#8217;t catch him in the face during Portugal&#8217;s win over Slovakia.<\/p>\n<p>Ronaldo caught the Slovakia goalkeeper with a late challenge during Friday&#8217; Euro 2024 qualifier.<\/p>\n<p>The pair were team-mates at Manchester United in the first half of last season.<\/p>\n<p>Even after a VAR check, Ronaldo avoided being sent off for the incident as he only received a yellow card.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>However, the Al-Nassr star is still suspended for Portugal&#8217;s game against Luxembourg after accumulating three yellow cards.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/10\/23\/75275767-0-image-a-21_1694385702031.jpg\" height=\"409\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Martin Dubravka revealed that he prayed that Cristiano Ronaldo wouldn&#8217;t catch him in the face<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/10\/23\/75275787-0-image-m-24_1694385742322.jpg\" height=\"791\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Dubravka doesn&#8217;t blame Ronaldo for the late challenge that saw the Portugal star booked<\/p>\n<p>When asked by reporters after the game where Ronaldo had caught him, Dubravka said: &#8216;In the shoulder, the neck and the chest.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I just closed my eyes and prayed that he [Ronaldo] wouldn&#8217;t hit me in the face as well. When I saw his studs coming at me, I didn&#8217;t even look.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Dubravka stated that he doesn&#8217;t blame Ronaldo for the incident and added that such situations are part of the game.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He said: &#8216;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&#8217;t blame him. It&#8217;s sport, it&#8217;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.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;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.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Dubravka was able to complete the game despite the incident and should also be ready to feature against Liechtenstein.<\/p>\n<p>During his brief loan spell at Manchester United, Dubravka made just two appearances before returning to Newcastle.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/10\/23\/75275769-0-image-a-22_1694385711942.jpg\" height=\"445\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Dubravka and Ronaldo were briefly club team-mates in the second half of last season<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/i\/pix\/2017\/08\/02\/636x90_facebook_ad_sport.png\" width=\"636\" height=\"90\"><br \/>\nSource: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-12502651\/Martin-Dubravka-says-closed-eyes-PRAYED-Cristiano-Ronaldo-not-catch-face-studs-challenge-Slovakias-loss-Portugal-insists-doesnt-blame-Al-Nassr-forward.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Martin Dubravka says he &#8216;closed his eyes and PRAYED&#8217; Cristiano Ronaldo would not catch him in the face before studs-up challenge during Slovakia&#8217;s loss to Portugal &#8211; but insists he &#8216;doesn&#8217;t blame&#8217; the Al-Nassr forward Martin Dubravka says he prayed Cristiano Ronaldo&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290319,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Dubravka says he &amp;apos;PRAYED&amp;apos; Ronaldo would not catch him in the face - Sports-Life-News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sports-life-news.com\/soccer\/dubravka-says-he-prayed-ronaldo-would-not-catch-him-in-the-face\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dubravka says he &amp;apos;PRAYED&amp;apos; 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