Gloves are off: Donnarumma and Onana among the top keepers facing heavy criticism

On Saturday, the footballer named man of the tournament at the last European Championship learned his and Italy’s defence of their Euros title would be almost as tough as conceivable. On Sunday, his own reputation then took a further tumble. Once again, Gianluigi Donnarumma, the giant goalkeeper whose reach made him a penalty-stopping hero for his county two years ago, has been let down by his feet.

Donnarumma was sent off for Paris Saint-Germain, 10 minutes into their Ligue 1 trip to Le Havre. A high right boot, swung into action to try and clear a bouncing ball outside his penalty area, was deemed dangerous. The referee got it right. Le Havre’s Josue Casimir took the blow to the side of his head as he chased a gap in PSG’s back four.

The reduced visitors still went on to win 2-0, increasing their lead at the top of the French table and hailing the resolute performance of Arnau Tenas, who came on in goal for his debut in senior football.

Tenas is Spanish, 22 years old and brought up through the Barcelona academy, where goalkeepers are drilled to feel comfortable in the parts of the pitch where use of the hands is outlawed. “He’s perfectly suited to a team who want to bring the ball out of defence, clearly a top professional,” said PSG head coach Luis Enrique after Tenas’ seven saves in the minutes he was on the pitch.

If Donnarumma heard those words with a wince, he would be forgiven. He has been criticised heavily for several recent errors, and is forever being scrutinised for his uncertainty when he has the ball at his feet.

And he knows Spanish goalkeepers are fashionable partly because so many are judged to be experts at accurate distribution, daring at pushing up out of the box. Donnarumma’s Italy will be up