Photo by Miguel RIOPA / AFP via Getty Images
Photo by Miguel RIOPA / AFP via Getty Images
David Raya got a rare start for Spain in their Nations League clash against Czechia.
The Arsenal star is widely viewed as the best goalkeeper in the world, but for his national team, he has almost always been behind Unai Simon in the pecking order.
On Saturday night, Spain boss Luis de la Fuente gave the nod to Raya, and even though he was solid for large parts of the game, there were two questionable moments.
One of them was an absolute howler.
Raya best in world
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David Raya’s embarrassing mistake was saved by the referee
Spain were expectedly dominant against Czechia in the Nations League on Saturday night.
Lamine Yamal opened the scoring inside just six minutes before Rodri doubled their lead 10 minutes before the break to give Spain a 2-0 lead at half-time.
Czechia halved the deficit in the second half, and just a few moments later they came incredibly close to levelling the score after a howler from David Raya.
The Arsenal number one looked to be in control of claiming a simple catch under his crossbar after a header from a free-kick. It looked like a routine claim, but Raya dropped the ball on the goal line, and Ryan Naderi tapped it into the back of the net.
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That was arguably the worst mistake of Raya’s career, but he was saved by the referee, who called a foul at the edge of the box at the moment the free-kick was taken.
That disallowed the goal and spared Raya’s blushes. The score would’ve become 2-2 had that stood, and anything could’ve happened in the final 11 minutes.
Luckily for Spain, it remained 2-1, and Mikel Merino found the net late on to seal a 3-1 win for the reigning world champions.
David Raya should’ve done better for Czechia’s goal too
Raya is usually very reliable in goal, but we’re sure he will not be too happy with his performance for Spain against Czechia.
The incident explained above would’ve been utterly humiliating had the goal stood, but his role in Jiri Slama’s goal was far from impressive.
Raya moved across to his right to cover the near post, but he was probably a step or two wider than he had to be. That opened more space, and Slama’s fierce strike flew past the goalkeeper into the back of the net.
At first glance, it does feel like Raya couldn’t have done much, but if his positioning was slightly better, we think he would’ve got a hand to the ball and deflected it behind for a corner.
Photo by Manuel Queimadelos/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images
Photo by Manuel Queimadelos/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images
A graphic to show the age of Lamine Yamal after his first Barcelona and Max Dowman after his first Arsenal goal.
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Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images
Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images
Grid with four Man City players asking which one the team should sign
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