Botafogo’s Rafael Navarro was on the receiving end of one of the worst challenges we’ve seen in a long time during Friday’s Brazilian Serie B clash against Clube de Regatas Brasil (CRB).Brazilian defender Caetano, who is on loan at CRB from Corinthians, was shown a straight red card by referee Antonio Dib Moraes de Sousa midway through the first half.As Navarro attempted to intercept the ball, he was left poleaxed by a truly outrageous challenge by his opponent.There was no chance Caetano was winning the ball, so the 22-year-old decided to take out the forward instead.Navarro, a former Brazil Under-15 international, received a studs-first boot to the face at speed. To say it must have hurt is an understatement.
Video: Caetano's red card challenge on Navarro
You can watch the footage of the incident here:
Goodness me. What on earth was Caetano thinking?!
That’s arguably one of the worst challenges of all time. It’s certainly the worst we’ve seen this season.
It initially appeared that Navarro, who was left flat out on the floor, had been seriously hurt.
Fortunately, the 21-year-old was able to get to his feet shortly afterwards, although he was seen with a nasty-looking cut on his nose.
But it could have been much worse for the South American, who played the remainder of the match.
Navarro provided the assist for Marco Antonio’s opening goal on the stroke of half-time, while Carlinhos wrapped up the three points for Botafogo deep into second-half injury-time.
