Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo missed several big chances and burst into tears after Slovenian goalkeeper Jan Oblak saved his penalty at the end of the first half of extra time.
“Sadness at first but joy at the end. That’s football. Those are inexplicable moments,” Ronaldo told Portuguese television after his team’s dramatic victory over Slovenia thanks to a lucky penalty shootout at Frankfurt Arena in the Euro 2024 round of 16 match that took place early on July 2 (Vietnam time).
Ronaldo failed to beat goalkeeper Jan Oblak on the 11m mark when Portugal was awarded a penalty in the first extra time (Photo: Getty).
The Portuguese striker burst into tears while his teammates had to constantly encourage him (Photo: Dailymail).
Ronaldo admitted he had “inexplicable” moments as he missed numerous chances and burst into tears after missing a penalty at the end of the first period of extra time.
Ronaldo’s miss also caused Portugal to miss the chance to finish Slovenia after 120 minutes of regular time and extra time and was forced to decide the winner on penalties.
In the penalty shootout, Ronaldo also let goalkeeper Jan Oblak guess the right direction but fortunately the ball still went into the net. In this “shootout”, goalkeeper Diogo Costa of Portugal excellently blocked 3 penalty kicks of Slovenia to help the home team win the right to play in the quarter-finals with France (the team that defeated Belgium 1-0 in the match a few hours earlier).
Diogo Costa became the first goalkeeper to save three penalties at the Euros and was voted man of the match. Before the penalty shootout, Costa also made a brilliant save to deny Portugal a clear goal after a regrettable mistake by centre-back Pepe in the second half of extra time.
“A direct shot would have put the team ahead, but I couldn’t make it. Oblak made a great save,” Ronaldo said about his missed penalty in extra time.
“I had to review the penalty, I don’t know if I took it well or badly, but I haven’t missed a single penalty this year, and when I needed it most, Oblak saved it.
I think Portugal deserved to win though because we had more control. Slovenia spent almost the entire game defending.
It was very difficult and the whole team needs to be congratulated, especially our goalkeeper who made three excellent saves from the penalty spot,” Ronaldo said after his team’s thrilling victory.
The 39-year-old striker added: “Portugal were always dominant, pressing hard, but for one reason or another we didn’t score. The pitch was not good, it was difficult to play but I think in the end we played better. We deserved to be in the quarter-finals.
We are still very excited, we want to enjoy our victory, bring joy and happiness to the fans and this is our life. This is how we live.”
