Cristiano Ronaldo narrowly escaped a red card despite an incident where his studs connected with Martin Dubravka’s face during Portugal’s 1-0 victory over Slovakia in the Euro 2024 qualifying match.

In the second half, the Al-Nassr star slid into the box to reach the ball, but the goalkeeper got there first, resulting in Ronaldo’s boot making contact with Dubravka’s face. This yellow card means he will miss Portugal’s upcoming match against Luxembourg on Monday, the same punishment as if he had received a straight red card, due to accumulating three yellow cards in Group J.

Ronaldo offered his apologies to Dubravka, but many questioned why he wasn’t sent off, even after a VAR review. Despite the discomfort, Slovakia’s goalkeeper continued to play. Portugal secured the away win thanks to Bruno Fernandes’ brilliant first-half strike from a tight angle, on his 29th birthday. This victory solidified Portugal’s position at the top of Group J with a perfect record of five wins in five matches, scoring 15 goals and conceding none.

Roberto Martinez, who left his role as Belgium’s manager following their early exit from the Qatar World Cup last December, has had an impressive start as Portugal’s manager. This was the first loss that Slovakia suffered in Euro 2024 qualifying, leaving them in second place with 10 points.

Ronaldo has already scored five goals in qualifying, putting him tied for fourth place alongside Harry Kane and Zeki Amdouni in the scoring charts. The 38-year-old might be disappointed to see Rasmus Hojlund, Romelu Lukaku, and former Manchester United teammate Scott McTominay leading the scoring charts with six goals.

Due to his accumulation of yellow cards, Ronaldo will be unable to add to his goal tally in the upcoming match against Luxembourg. Although Luxembourg has shown improvement as a footballing nation and is on par with Slovakia in terms of points, Martinez’s team defeated them 6-0 in their previous encounter, with Ronaldo scoring a brace.