Cristiano Ronaldo was lucky to avoid a straight red card after hitting Martin Dubravka with a nail in Portugal’s Euro 2024 qualifying match against Slovakia.

Ronaldo rushed to compete for the ball in the second half of the match and accidentally hit Dubravka in the face. The veteran striker protested the incident and apologized to Dubravka, and the referee only gave him a yellow card. VAR examined the incident for a possible red card, but Ronaldo escaped a harsh penalty after it was deemed his foot had slid from Dubravka’s chest onto his face. Ronaldo had played alongside Dubravka at Manchester United last season, but there was no love between the two that evening.

At the time of the incident in the 61st minute of the match in Bratislava, Portugal led 1-0 thanks to a goal from Bruno Fernandes. Manchester United captain fired into the bottom corner of the goal from a tight angle in the 43rd minute to give the away team the lead. Ronaldo played in his 201st match for Portugal at the age of 38.