David Rayas' face was changed forever after a serious injury the Arsenal goalkeeper suffered while playing for Blackburn Rovers.
The Spanish goalkeeper is enjoying the greatest moments of his career. This season he was crowned Premier League champion with Arsenal and has the chance to win the Champions League for the first time, in the final against Paris Saint-Germain in Budapest.
Raya was also a candidate for the Premier League Player of the Season award, although the award went to Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes. Arsenal's success has been built on a very strong defence, with Raya, Gabriel Magalhaes, William Saliba and Declan Rice among the key figures.
For Ryan, this is the culmination of a journey that began when he made the big decision to leave Spain at the age of 16 and pursue his career in England. In 2012, he joined Blackburn Rovers on a scholarship deal, at a time when the club had just been relegated from the Premier League.
A four-month loan at Southport gave him his first experience of professional football, experience that would later prove crucial when Tony Mowbray made him Blackburn's first-choice goalkeeper in 2017. In 2019, the Spaniard moved to Brentford, where he stayed for four years and helped the club to promotion to the Premier League, before moving to Arsenal.
The most serious injury of his career came in his final season with Blackburn, during a 1-1 draw with West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns. Raya was involved in a horrific collision with striker Jay Rodriguez, who accidentally hit him in the face with the top of his boot.
Blackburn's then-manager, Tony Mowbray, said that the bone on the top of Raya's nose had been pushed almost towards his skull and that his teammates could barely see the injury.
Raya needed oxygen and, after Blackburn had made all their substitutions, midfielder Richard Smallwood was forced to take over in goal. After being taken to hospital, the goalkeeper was diagnosed with a broken nose and received stitches to his face.
However, he was only out for two weeks. After returning to Ewood Park, Raya played with a protective mask over his nose. At the end of the season, he decided to undergo surgery to reconstruct his nose.
Recalling the moment of the collision, Raya admitted that at first she thought her face was completely broken.
"I felt a big crack in my face and thought I would need surgery immediately. I felt like my nose and head were not right. However, it doesn't stop me from breathing or anything like that," he said.
Despite the trauma, Raya stressed that the injury would not change his way of playing. According to him, such incidents can happen to anyone in football, even a defender during a header duel. /GazetaExpress/
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