NOS Voetbal•maandag, 23:42
Watch the summary of Portugal – Slovenia
Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal can prepare for a real cracker in the quarter finals of the European Championship. The Portuguese could not get past Slovenia (0-0) in 120 minutes, but took the penalties significantly better.
While Ronaldo had missed a penalty in extra time.
Portuguese goalkeeper Diogo Costa was the hero of the evening with a crucial save in extra time and three saved penalties.
Crying Ronaldo inconsolable after missing penalty in extra time against Slovenia
The 39-year-old Ronaldo tried to take his country by the hand from the first whistle. The attacker did not score in the entire group stage and that bothers the star player. That had never happened to him in his previous five European Championships.
The striker can become the first player ever to score in six European Championships in Germany and so he tried in every possible way again today.
He came closest to scoring with free kicks, but before half-time Slovenian goalkeeper Jan Oblak saw a shot fly just over the goal.
Ronaldo still fails to score, three missed chances against Slovenia
But Portugal, playing well, just couldn’t manage to take the lead. It was clear in advance that it wouldn’t be easy.
Slovenia has been a tough opponent for some time now. In the last fifteen international matches, Matjaz Kek’s team has only lost once.
Breakout Sesko any Slovenian chance
After the break it was Ronaldo again who created the danger for his country. Again it was a free kick that worried the Slovenians. But now Oblak was the saving angel.
RB Leipzig striker Benjamin Sesko then also had a rare chance to put Slovenia ahead, but the attacker was unable to shoot convincingly towards goal after a winning sprint duel with the 41-year-old Pepe.
The Portuguese were no longer in any real danger, but things were not as easy as before the break.
ReutersRonaldo doesn’t get it
It was getting a bit monotonous, but Ronaldo had one big chance just before the end of regular time to save Portugal from extra time. It didn’t work, he found Oblak in his way again.
Ronaldo misses penalty, tears in his eyes
The extra time went back and forth. Portugal remained the most attacking team and almost got their just reward. Substitute Diogo Jota went on an adventure and ran into Drkusic and Ronaldo got the biggest chance of the match: a penalty.
Portugal’s top scorer had hit all 24 previous penalties (in all competitions), but this time he had to acknowledge Oblak as his superior. The Slovenian dived the ball beautifully out of the corner.
ReutersGoalkeeper Diogo Costa is the Portuguese hero of the evening
That clearly hurt Ronaldo a lot. Tears were in his eyes and his teammates had to comfort him.
One more huge opportunity
A tearful Pepe was almost admirable when he made a nasty mistake five minutes before the final whistle. The Portuguese defender could not control a ball and saw Sesko go one-on-one with goalkeeper Diogo Costa.
The latter saved Sesko’s effort with his foot, allowing the 41-year-old Pepe to breathe a sigh of relief.
Ronaldo now hits the mark
Penalties followed. Goalkeeper Costa stepped up to save the day in Portugal’s service: he stopped Slovenia’s first three penalties, by Josip Ilicic, Jure Balkovec and Benjamin Verbic. Portugal hit the first three perfectly, ending the series after just six penalties.
Ronaldo was one of three Portuguese who did score. The relief was great for the Portuguese team and its star.
Ronaldo will get at least one more chance to score in his sixth European Championship.
