Watch This: Cristiano Ronaldo Avoids Red Card After Horror Tackle

Former Real Madrid and Manchester United superstar, Cristiano Ronaldo, was lucky to avoid a red card while on international duty after kicking Martin Dubravka in the head.

Ronaldo is world-renowned as one of the best players to ever grace the planet, although even he himself has admitted that his rivalry with Lionel Messi is over, which makes sense given that the former is playing in the Saudi Pro League and the latter is now plying his trade in the MLS.

The Portuguese star is seen by many across the world as the greatest of all time, but for a lot of his career, he has had to deal with multiple off-field issues, including accusations of rape, which saw him unable to attend pre-season tours of America, failure to pay his taxes correctly during his time in Spain and now willingly playing in Saudi Arabia.

Cristiano Ronaldo avoids red card playing for Portugal

He was the first top player to take the plunge and go play out in Saudi Arabia, with Al-Nassr paying him an obscene amount of money to help boost the country’s reputation on and off the pitch, but the influx of players has only increased the negative spotlight on the Middle East country.

How is this not a red card, but Messi is protected 🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/1huVPoQ2vz

— Forca_ Barca (@Lionel_1899fcb) September 8, 2023

Despite club football having taken a backseat for the time being due to this international break, Ronaldo has been unable to stay out of the media spotlight, this time it’s for a bad reason as he committed a shocking challenge during Portugal’s 1-0 away victory against Slovakia.

As the ball was fizzed into the box for Ronaldo to latch onto, he failed to reach the pass and decided to lunge, despite being very much second-favorite to connect.

Ronaldo looks to have lost an edge on the pitch

While he did indeed make a solid connection, it was with Newcastle United goalkeeper, Martin Dubravka’s face, that left the Slovakian number one in significant amounts of pain as he tried to console himself on the floor.

Ronaldo looked very unapologetic after he committed the foul, much to the displeasure of Dubravka’s teammates, although the referee felt there was no need to brandish him a red card, something that looks very bizarre when the footage is watched back in both normal speed and slowed down.