Manchester City of England goalkeeper, Gavin Bazunu has downplayed his celebrated ability in stopping a penalty by Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo while in action for Republic of Ireland.
Megasportsarena.com reports that Bazunu became talk of the town on Wednesday when he pulled of the heroic first half save to deny ‘CR7’ from the spot, but he insists there was not spectacular about it.
Rather than take personal pride or delight from the feat, Bazunu instead went on to praise the whole Ireland squad, which he hailed for holding their own for a long spell of the game before eventually bowing2-1.
They went on to lose the match to a late brace from Ronaldo, as the iconic star, who is back with Manchester United of England for the season, netted twice in the last minute of added time, much to Bazunu’s dismay.
Ronaldo, who escaped punishment for clipping defender Dara O’Shea as he waited to take his spot-kick, ultimately had the last laugh when he cancelled out John Egan’s first-half opener with an 89th-minute header and then scored the winner in stoppage time.
With the game still hogging headlines across Europe, the 19-year-old Bazunu, who is on a season-long loan at Portsmouth, is picking positives from his side’s heartbreaking World Cup qualifier defeat in Faro, where he won his fifth senior cap.
However, all credit should go to the team, says Bazunu, who has established himself as Ireland coach, Stephen Kenny’s number one, ahead of Liverpool’s Caoimhin Kelleher and Bournemouth’s Mark Travers, in the absence of the experienced Darren Randolph.
Bazunu said: “As a team, we defended well against him and the rest of the Portuguese attacking players for the whole game.
“You see the way we played against one of the best oppositions in the world. Yes, we were on the defensive a lot, but we showed that we could cause them a lot of problems.
“We had a lot of chances in the game ourselves, so just stick with us and have faith we’re doing the right things.
“That was definitely my fault for the penalty, but as soon as it happened and it was given as a penalty, I just had to forget about that because it’s not a goal, it’s just a penalty.
“I obviously had a chance to right my wrongs and I was happy to be able to do that. The word is ‘class’, I suppose. He’s Cristiano Ronaldo, that level of quality.
“That’s why he’s broken those records and that’s why he is who is, because he’s able to come up with moments like that and score goals at vital moments.”
